Fox News Host Greg Gutfeld's Most Controversial On-Air Moments

Greg Gutfeld has been with Fox News for almost two decades. He started at the network in 2007 and eventually landed his own segment "Gutfeld!" "Fox News has given me the freedom to be unabashedly myself and, in turn, deliver a distinct experience for our audience," Gutfeld told Variety in 2024. "There aren't many platforms that allow this type of creative independence." It might be safe to say that "creative independence" in this instance could be interpreted as "saying whatever you want without any consequences." Anyone who's kept an eye on politics over the years knows Gutfeld is famous for his controversial comments. In 2023, he made sexist comments on "The Five," saying if women left the planet, several problems would cease to exist.

Gutfeld suggested all women should take a week-long vacation to Venus, arguing, "The rapid recidivism that we're putting up with would disappear," referring to a mass looting at a Nordstrom in Los Angeles. Gutfeld suggested authorities had become lenient, and therefore, criminals continued to re-offend. He blamed this on women, saying, "What I'm saying is that we have gotten so soft, and it is because we have decided that discipline and punishment is wrong."

This wasn't the only time Gutfeld made sexist comments. When "The View" host Joy Behar dubbed Gutfeld sexist for making fun of Vice President Kamala Harris' laugh, he clapped back on air calling out Behar for saying men are intimidated by witty women. Behar said, "Men don't like a funny woman. They're afraid if you laugh or you make a joke, that maybe you'll do that when they're in bed with you." Gutfeld responded, "Hmm, Joy Behar in bed? I thought cows slept standing up."

Not only does Greg Gutfeld think the world would be better off without women, but he's also of the opinion that the Holocaust was a good thing because it taught people survival skills. Gutfeld was addressing the controversial Black history standards implemented in Florida, which aims to paint slavery as something the enslaved benefited from because they learned valuable skills they could apply in their everyday lives. His co-host, liberal-leaning Jessica Tarlov, called him out, asking whether people would be willing to make the same argument about the Holocaust, and Gutfeld went on to do just that.

He asked Tarlov if she'd ever read the famous tome "Man's Search for Meaning" by Victor Frankl before launching into what could very well be described as a justification for the atrocities that took place during the Holocaust. "Frankl talks about how you had to survive in a concentration camp by having skills. You had to be useful," Gutfeld argued. "Utility! Utility kept you alive!"

A media storm ensued, with even the White House calling Gutfeld out for his comments. "What Fox News allowed to be said on their air yesterday — and has so far failed to condemn — is an obscenity," deputy White House press secretary Andrew Bates told CNN. "[Gutfeld] told another horrid, dangerous, and extreme lie that insults the memory of the millions of people who suffered from the evils of the Holocaust." He then added, "There was nothing good about slavery; there was nothing good about the Holocaust. Full stop." Auschwitz Memorial also criticized Gutfeld on X, formerly Twitter, in a lengthy post. "It is crucial to remember that the Holocaust was a systematic genocide with the ultimate aim of exterminating the entire Jewish population," the organization wrote.

When news of Donald Trump's third indictment broke (related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election), Greg Gutfeld wasn't very interested in discussing it on air. As news anchor David Spunt busied himself informing the hosts of "The Five" about the latest charges against Trump, Gutfeld was barely paying attention, drawing men in hats on a piece of paper. He continued doing this as his co-hosts discussed the charges among themselves. When it was his turn to give his two cents, he said, "I don't know. What do you think of my sketches? Usually, when I'm bored, I'll draw men in hats. I'm sure there's a psychiatrist out there that can tell me what's wrong with me" (via The Daily Beast). He subsequently dismissed the severity of the charges, shrugging it off as Democratic propaganda aimed at getting Trump out of the way so the left could maintain power in the White House. He then expressed his desire to discuss more fun topics, like the theory that a bear in a Chinese zoo was human.

In the aftermath of an assumed assassination attempt on Trump in September 2024 during a golf game at his Florida golf club, Gutfeld invited the former president to his show, again making fun of a pretty serious situation. "Mr. T, how's your golf game?" Gutfeld asked the former president, who responded, "Well, I haven't been thinking about it too much lately. ... I always said golf was a very dangerous game." Gutfeld asked Trump whether he would've tried to take out the shooter himself with his 3-wood. "I think so. I think so, if I knew," Trump replied.

It's safe to say that Greg Gutfeld is not a fan of climate activists, nor does he believe climate change is a pressing issue. Instead, he's of the opinion that it's a scam orchestrated by the Democrats to keep people from having children.

When activists disrupted the U.S. Open in September 2023, Gutfeld suggested people get a hold of their home addresses and post it on social media to get back at them personally for the disruption they caused. "If you desire to make their lives extra difficult, you have the right, too," Gutfeld argued on the Fox News program "The Five." He even came up with some suggestions for making the protestors' lives difficult. "You find out where they live, you pull — you know, you've got bananas in the tailpipes — but they probably don't own cars, flaming bags of dog poo on the porch — but they probably don't have a porch. Let the air out of the tires on their scooters. You know what, tear down their BLM [Black Lives Matter] signs. Do anything you want as a sign of protest because they're doing it for you," he mused.

This wasn't the first time Gutfeld encouraged violence against climate activists. Just a month prior, he criticized a group who glued their hands to an airport runway, causing multiple flight delays. He told his co-hosts on "The Five" that the activists' personal information should be made public so people affected by their protest could get their revenge, so to speak. On another occasion, Gutfeld joked that climate activists are contributing to global warming "with their collective body odor" before suggesting that the only reason they are out on the streets protesting is because they have nothing better to do.

It's no secret America's democracy is in a fragile state, and Greg Gutfeld did nothing to remedy this when he made incendiary claims on "The Five," suggesting that elections are pointless. Gutfeld was discussing the fate of looters who damaged stores across Philadelphia in October 2023, claiming they weren't going to get the same treatment as those who were criminally charged during the January 6 insurrection (though Gutfeld did not describe the January 6 riots in this manner).

Gutfeld accused the Democrats of being responsible for societal decline and argued they'd never take responsibility for it. He likened the situation to that of slavery and how the Civil War ended up paving the road to freedom for the enslaved. He appeared to argue that the only way America could move forward is through another civil war that would force the Democrats to admit they're wrong. "You have a side that cannot change because then that means an admission that their beliefs have been corrupt all the time. So in a way, you have to force them to surrender," Gutfeld said. His co-hosts quickly tried to remedy the situation by suggesting that war is not a solution and that elections are there for a reason, but Gutfeld made matters worse when he countered, "No, elections don't work. We know that. We know they don't work ... Every facet of society is in peril and in chaos because our elections don't matter."

Former Under Secretary of State Richard Stengel quickly took to X to call out Gutfeld's dangerous claims, writing, "'Elections don't work' may be the most un-American, undemocratic, un-small-r-republican, most authoritarian sentiment it is possible to utter. Voting is the primary right by which all our other rights are protected. No elections, no liberty."

While discussing the COVID-19 vaccine on "The Five" in 2022, Jessica Tarlov brought up the danger of disinformation when it comes to getting life-saving treatments like the COVID-19 vaccine, admitting that she went into a bit of a panic after getting jabbed herself while pregnant when false information claiming it could harm your unborn baby started circulating around the internet. She then made a case for actively working against these disinformation campaigns to ensure people get the proper information, but her co-host, Greg Gutfeld, disagreed. "I am pro disinformation," Gutfeld said. "One man's disinformation is another person's fact. A censor never says they're a censor. They just say they're concerned about your health. And so they use medical information now as kind of their weaponry to start curtailing information," he continued.

Gutfeld had also previously advised folks against taking the COVID-19 booster shot and claimed the virus couldn't spread on airplanes, calling for masks to be done away with for good by airlines. In fact, the risk of infection is low but not impossible on airplanes and wearing a mask on a long-haul flight was advised by a 2020 study published in the CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Despite seemingly not being in favor of COVID-19 vaccines or protocols like masks, Gutfeld did require audience members attending his 2022 Texas shows to be vaccinated, and those attending tapings of "Gutfeld!" were required to wear masks as well.