Two Fox News anchors have been slammed after they gave out "acting awards" to traumatized Capitol Hill cops in what's been described as a "despicable stunt".
Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson gave out the mocking awards on Tuesday, July 27, which was also the first day of the US Capitol riot committee hearing, Independent reports.
Officers Harry Dunn, Aquilino Gonell, Michael Fanone, and Daniel Hodges opened up about the racial and physical attacks and the fear they felt for their lives as they confronted angry Donald Trump supporters when they stormed the Capitol building on January 6.
Watch Ingraham give out one of the awards below:Reflecting on the racial abuse he was subject to, Officer Harry Dunn said he was called the "N-word" after he tried to talk sense into those who were adamantly denying that Biden won the election.
"I responded, 'Well, I voted for Joe Biden. Does my vote not count? Am I nobody?'" he said. "That prompted a torrent of racial epithets."
But despite the officer's tearful testimony, Ingraham went on to mock him with a "Best Political Performance" award, deliberately leaving out the clip where he recounted the racial abuse he was subject to.
"The award for blatant use of party politics when facts fail, the Angle award goes to Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn," she said.
Officer Gonell also opened up in his testimony about the violence of the protestors, who he said used hockey sticks, flagpoles, and baseball bats as weapons.
He said: "No matter if it is a pen, the way they were using these items, it was to hurt officers."
In response to this, Ingraham said: "The winner is Aquilino Gonell, who thinks the pen is literally mightier than the sword" as she presented him a "Best Exaggerated Performance" trophy.
Meanwhile, on Tucker Carlson Tonight, the host mocked the officer for saying he was more frightened of working at the Capitol than he had been during his deployment in Iraq.
Carlson responded: "Actually, what happened on January 6, according to the video we do have, does not look a lot like Iraq. It's not Fallujah."
The host then deliberately showed footage of a quieter section of the riots to justify his actions.
Carlson then took aim at the mental health battles suffered by Washington, D.C. officer Michael Fanone in the wake of the riot after he said he's "been left with psychological trauma and emotional anxiety."
He laughed sarcastically at this point.
The hosts were slammed on social media, with one Twitter user writing that Fox News needs to be canceled as a result of the comments.
One wrote: "Fanone was nearly beaten to death and suffered a heart attack! This is truly sociopathic behavior here."
Another added: "Uh this channel needs to be removed from the airwaves."
While a third questioned: "Why can't Fox ever be sued."
Joe Walsh went on to describe the hosts' actions as "despicable."
"We’ve always had a choice: We can attack those who attacked our democracy that day, or we can attack those who defended our democracy that day," he wrote on Twitter.
"Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson and so many others chose the latter. Despicable."
U.S. Capitol Police account, Chief Tom Manger, said he's "proud of the officers who had the courage to share their stories" at the hearing, per NBC News.
