Fox News Apologized For Showing A Memorial Photo Of RBG, Calling It A “Big Mistake”
Anybody watching Fox News on Monday, Jan. 21 saw that one unfortunate mistake was made. And now, Fox News' apology for this Ruth Bader Ginsburg memorial photo makes it clear that Ginsburg is not, in fact, dead. The graphic was nothing more than a mistake. In an email to Elite Daily, a Fox News Channel spokesperson provided the following statement, "This was a technical error that emanated from the graphics team."
For those of you who may have missed the show, let me give you a little refresher. The Monday, Jan. 21 episode of Fox & Friends accidentally showed viewers a graphic briefly displaying an image of Ginsburg with the dates "1933-2019," before segueing into a totally unrelated segment called "Calling Out Campus Culture."
The "in memoriam" type photo insinuated that the 85-year-old Supreme Court Justice had died.
Later in the show, the show's hosts officially apologized for the mistake, saying that it only happened because of an error in the control room.
"We need to apologize … A technical error in the control room triggered a graphic of RBG with a date on it," co-host Steve Doocy said later in the show, per Mediaite. "We don’t want to make it seem anything other than that was a mistake. That was an accident."
Co-host Ainsley Earhardt echoed the same sentiment saying, “We apologize, big mistake."
See the graphic that they posted by mistake for yourself below:
A spokesperson for Fox News confirmed the same story in an emailed statement to Elite Daily that said, "This was a technical error that emanated from the graphics team."
Ginsburg is, of course, alive. The Hill reports that the inspiration for On the Basis of Sex is currently at home recovering from her recent surgery removing cancerous nodules from her lung.
“Her recovery from surgery is on track,” court spokeswoman Kathleen Arberg said in a statement on Jan. 11, per The Washington Post. “Post-surgery evaluation indicates no evidence of remaining disease, and no further treatment is required.”
“Justice Ginsburg will continue to work from home next week and will participate in the consideration and decision of the cases on the basis of the briefs and the transcripts of oral arguments,” Arberg continued in her statement.
The Hill reports that this is the first time in her over 25 years on the bench that she has missed oral arguments.
This isn't the first time Ginsburg has battled cancer. Just 10 years ago, she was treated for the highly fatal pancreatic cancer, per The New York Times.
Ginsburg is most notably known for all of the work she's done for women's rights in America. She was the director of the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union in the 1970s and was ultimately able to change legislation to make constitutional protections against sex discrimination.
In 1993, Bill Clinton appointed her to the Supreme Court. According to The New York Times, "[S]he moves slowly but asks sharp questions based on an assured command of the pertinent legal materials and factual record."
Luckily she is now cancer-free and we can hopefully soon look forward to her return on the bench.
Editor's note: This post has been updated on Jan. 21 to include Fox News Channel's response to Elite Daily's inquiry.
