By Dan Murphy
Westchester’s own Jeanine Pirro, who for decades has said and done whatever she wants to, may finally have gone too far. Last weekend, Fox News decided to pull her Saturday nighttime show and gave no indication when, or if, she will be back on the air again.
Fox’s decision was based on the firestorm Pirro created when she said about Congresswoman Ilan Omar, a freshman Muslim congresswoman born in Somalia who had come under fire for comments labeled as anti-Semitic:
“Think about this: She’s not getting this anti-Israel sentiment doctrine from the Democratic Party, so if it’s not rooted in the party, where is she getting it from?” said Pirro. “Think about it. Omar wears a hijab, which, according to the Quran 33:59, tells women to cover so they won’t get molested. Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?”
The grave mistake that Pirro made, many believe, is that she took Omar off the hook by creating her own controversy. Instead of focusing on what Congresswoman Omar said, comments that were deemed anti-Semitic by many – including Westchester’s two long-serving members of Congress, Nita Lowey and Eliot Engel – the public, and the media, are now focusing on about what Pirro said about Omar.
Pirro’s inane comments were also criticized because she assumed that because Omar wore a hijab she adhered to and supported sharia law. Television and radio talk show host Michael Smerconish used the following analogy based on Pirro’s comments: “Should we also assume that because someone has ashes on their forehead for Ash Wednesday that they support the Catholic Church above the U.S. Constitution? Or if someone is wearing a Yamaka, that they support the Jewish faith, or Israel, above the U.S. Constitution?”
The fact that Fox News made its decision to remove Pirro from the airwaves, when she was one of the network’s highest-rated weekend hosts and was a favorite of President Donald Trump, speaks volumes about the severity of what Pirro said.
Fox issued statements which said, “We strongly condemn Jeanine Pirro’s comments,” and that Pirro’s comments “do not reflect those of the network and we have addressed the matter with her directly.” Fox did not clarify whether Pirro was suspended or fired; sources said that Pirro was suspended but not fired.
Why was Pirro taken off the air? Advertisers began to pull their commercials off Pirro’s show. “We absolutely condemn Ms. Pirro’s comments, which are offensive and completely contrary to our values,” said a spokesperson for Letgo, a website for buying and selling used goods. “We are in the process of ensuring our ads will no longer run during her show.”0
NerdWallet also told THR, “We’re no longer advertising on this show and don’t have plans to in the future.”
Novo Nordisk, another pharmaceutical company, told The Post it was “re-evaluating” its ads on Pirro’s show. “We advertise across many cable networks to raise awareness of our medicines and the disease they treat,” said company spokesman Ken Inchausti. “We respect each person’s right to express their thinking and beliefs, however, we are re-evaluating our advertising on this program at this time.”
A Fox News producer, Hufsa Kamal, also questioned Pirro’s comments, tweeting: “@JudgeJeanine can you stop spreading this false narrative that somehow Muslims hate America or women who wear a hijab aren’t American enough? You have Muslims working at the same network you do, including myself.”
Pirro issued a statement after her comments about Omar but before she was suspended. “I’ve seen a lot of comments about my opening statement from Saturday night’s show and I did not call Rep. Omar un-American. My intention was to ask a question and start a debate, but of course because one is Muslim does not mean you don’t support the Constitution. I invite Rep. Omar to come on my show any time to discuss all of the important issues facing America today.”
One item notably missing from Pirro’s statement was an apology. Since that statement, Pirro has been silent, including on social media.
President Trump was not silent after Pirro was taken off the air. “Bring back @JudgeJeanine Pirro,” he tweeted. “The Radical Left Democrats, working closely with their beloved partner, the Fake News Media, is using every trick in the book to SILENCE a majority of our Country. They have all out campaigns against @FoxNews hosts who are doing too well.”
Pirro was best known for her loud and boisterous defenses of Trump and attacks against his perceived enemies, mostly democrats, who she called “liars, leakers and liberals” in her latest book.
Pirro joined Fox News in 2011 but was a relatively unknown TV host until the presidential campaign of 2016, when she used her prior friendship with then candidate Trump to her advantage, getting interviews and sharing information to the viewers of Fox News, many of whom supported and voted for Trump.
Pirro and her then husband, Al Pirro, were friends and business associates of Trump in the 1990s, with Al Pirro serving as Trump’s attorney for his many development project in Westchester. Jeanine Pirro used her prior interactions with Trump, and his presidential run, as a way to climb the ladder of media success.
Pirro was seen visiting Trump Tower in the days after his election and during his transition. Last year, the president posed with Pirro and her new book in the Oval Office, and the president called into Pirro’s show on a few occasions.
For those who have not lived in Westchester during Pirro’s reign, let us remind you of her Westchester connections: She was the first female judge elected in Westchester County history, and was the first female district attorney of Westchester County, where she served three terms, from 1993 to 2005.
In 2006, Pirro briefly ran for U.S. Senate against Hillary Clinton, but withdrew to run for New York attorney general. She lost to Andrew Cuomo in what would be her last race for elected office.
Among Pirro’s mistakes made while District Attorney included the miscarriage of justice for Jeff Deskovic, who remained in prison while wrongfully convicted under DA Pirro, and whose case was not permitted to be re-opened to use new DNA evidence by Pirro.
Earlier this year, the Journal News reported that Pirro’s campaigns still owed $600,000 to campaign vendors more than 13 years after her last election.
Many of us who have covered her career and have lived through “the Pirro years” in Westchester cannot fathom the thought that Pirro’s successors as district attorney, Janet DiFiore and Anthony Scarpino, would ever behave in this manner, or make comments that many believe are not truthful, or are harmful to the public discourse.
One Trump voter and supporter in my family described Pirro as “a caricature of a cable talk show host who keeps screaming and hopes you are listening.” Perhaps it might be more difficult to listen to Jeanine Pirro in the future.
