Gillian Turner on Sunday became the second Fox News host to warn conservatives about glorifying Kyle Rittenhouse.
During a segment on MediaBuzz program, host Howard Kurtz appeared to be setting up Turner to blast other media outlets for their coverage of the Rittenhouse trial.
"To me, Gillian, the worst part by far was after Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted, there were liberal commentators who continued to call him a murderer, who continued to call him a white supremacist," Kurtz said, "as if jury verdicts don't matter if you disagree with them."
"Yes, but to be fair, Howie, there were also conservative journalists and conservative pundits who continued herald him as a hero," Turner replied. "And I think the reality ... is that these cases are full of details, pesky little details and they tell their own story and reveal their own truths and so a narrative like this bolstering somebody who's on trial or trying to denigrate them before the jury has had a chance to consider the facts before them is always a hopeless undertaking. Everybody loses."
Kurtz quickly backtracked.
"Right, I've said many times Kyle Rittenhouse is not a hero," Kurtz insisted. "But he also deserved a fair trial and, therefore, if you're acquitted, I think all the people who had piled on earlier needed to recognize that."
Kurtz also criticized media outlets over coverage of the Jussie Smollett case. But Kurtz did not admonish Fox News over its coverage of the trials of the men who were found guilty for the deaths of George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery.
Last week, Fox News host Tomi Lahren argued that conservatives should distance themselves from Rittenhouse instead of making him a "rock star." Turner has also previously said that Rittenhouse is "not a hero."
