According to Media Matters’ “Fox’s Kilmeade Asks African-American Fox Host If She Makes Kool-Aid With Her Cobbler,” Kilmeade (a white man) asked about the particular drink when Faulkner (an African-American woman) mentioned a summer variety of her peach cobbler dish that uses strawberries instead.
“Do you make Kool-Aid?” he asked.
Faulkner, who had moved on to another topic with co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck, stopped and asked, “Do I do what?”
“Make Kool-Aid,” Kilmeade repeated.
Faulkner assured him that she did not make Kool-aid, which he subsequently explained “reminds [him] of the summer.”
The brief remarks, which were encased briefly by awkward looks from Faulkner, Hasselbeck and Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy, were enough to catch the attention of the usual watchdogs. Media Matters was the first, quickly followed by a Raw Story post
Even former Mediaite Editor Andrew Kirell turned the short segment into a Vine video, thereby repeating the awkwardness for eternity.
But is Kilmeade’s question actually racist? A little bit, sure. Given his question’s context, however, it most likely wasn’t said with racist intentions — conscious and otherwise. After all, the question didn’t come up until Faulkner mentioned the recipe’s summer variation.
What about the title of the Media Matters post? It mentions the network and Kilmeade’s names — most likely for search engine purposes — but refers to Faulkner as an “African-American Fox Host.” It doesn’t even mention her last name. How is that any different from a contextually appropriate question about a popular summer beverage? (Albeit one tainted with racist humor.)
Check out the clip above, via Fox News.
[Image via screengrab]
— —
>> Follow Andrew Husband (@AndrewHusband) on Twitter