Fox News Cuts Away During Father of Slain Muslim Veteran’s Speech at Democratic Convention
One of the most enduring images from Democratic National Convention was of Khizr Khan and his wife Ghazala, Pakistan-born immigrants who told the packed Pennsylvania Convention Center on Thursday night how their son Humayun sacrificed his life to save his comrade in arms. The Muslim American soldier died preventing a car rigged with explosives from killing others. Millions of Americans watched Khan’s wrenching tribute to his late son, who posthumously received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his bravery. But Fox News viewers missed out.
That’s because the conservative cabler chose to cut away from the elder Khan’s speech, in favor of a series of other pre-packaged stories. Under a “breaking tonight” graphic, the network aired FBI Director James Comey’s press conference on the growing ISIS threat — given on Wednesday.
Fox didn’t find time for the report on the Khan’s and their son until later, when Fox Business Channel posted video. Even then, Fox chose to focus not on Khan’s initial oratory, which had Democrats shouting out in affirmation. Instead, Fox brought in two other Muslims — Trump supporters –to offer a rebuttal. One credited Trump for forcing Democrats to address Muslim issues, while the other criticized President Obama for not using the phrase “radical Islam,” according to Slate, which wrote the original story about Fox’s odd programming choice.
Viewers of CNN and MSNBC saw Khan’s powerful testimonial in full. The story reverberated with emotion because Humayun was a devout Muslim, who volunteered to fight in the Middle East because he wanted to defend American democracy. Khizr Khan waved a pocket copy of the Constitution of the United States from the podium, asking if GOP nominee Donald Trump had even read America’s seminal political document. The elder Khan told the crowd that, if Trump had been able to follow through on his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country, people like his son would never have been able to serve America.
The grieving father’s summation was searing: “Mr. Trump, you have sacrificed nothing. And no one.”
Fox reps were not immediately available to comment.
Watch Khan’s speech in its entirety below.
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