Fox Business has apologized for comments made by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) that turned a discussion about China and Google into an anti-Semitic attack on billionaire Jewish philanthropist George Soros.
In his comments, Gohmert was referring to the fact that Google is developing a censored version of its products to be available in China. He agreed with “Varney & Co.” host Stuart Varney on the effort being “Orwellian” – but added, that it, “reminds me of another George, George Soros.”
Gohmert went on to repeat a popular right-wing conspiracy that postulates that George Soros once worked on the side of the Nazi party to take property from fellow Jews during World War II. Soros, who was born in Hungary in 1930, was only nine years old at the start of WWII, and only 14 when the war ended.
While Gohmert’s comments went initially unchallenged, an hour later, Varney condemned them on-air, saying:
“In the last hour, one of our guests, Congressman Louie Gohmert, for some reason went out of his way to bring up George Soros, and made unsubstantiated and false allegations against him. I want to make clear those views are not shared by me, this program, or anyone at Fox Business.”
Rep. Gohmert’s office has not responded to a request for comment.
