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24th Sep 2019

Fox News has apologised to Greta Thunberg after a pundit called her “mentally ill”

Rudi Kinsella

Greta Thunberg

Thunberg is 16-years-old and lives with Asperger’s syndrome.

Fox News has apologised to 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg on Monday after a conservative pundit called her a “mentally ill Swedish child”.

This came after she gave an extremely powerful speech on Monday, when conservative writer Michael Knowles was appearing on Fox News.

He said: “The climate hysteria movement is not about science. If it were about science, it would be led by scientists, rather than by politicians and a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left.”

He then doubled-down on his comments, saying: “She is mentally ill. She has autism. She has obsessive compulsive disorder, she has selective mutism. She had depression.”

According to Buzzfeed, Fox News have since released a statement saying that they had no plans for Knowles to appear on the channel in the future.

“The comment made by Michael Knowles who was a guest on The Story tonight was disgraceful — we apologize to Greta Thunberg and to our viewers,” a Fox News spokesperson said.

This isn’t the first time that Thunberg has been criticised for having Asperger’s, recently saying: “when haters go after your looks and differences … you know you’re winning”.

US President Donald Trump is also among those who have been critical of the 16-year-old girl, replying to her passionate speech with a sarcastic tweet on Tuesday morning.

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