Fox News host Brian Kilmeade caused a few eyebrows to raise and became the subject of social media mockery on Thursday after he claimed that John Lennon would be unsafe in New York City due to the ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd. Lennon famously was shot by Mark David Chapman outside of The Dakota near New York's Central Park in 1980.
Floyd was killed on May 25 after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes as he repeatedly said, "I can't breathe." In response to his murder, protests have taken place across the globe, including New York City, where police and demonstrators have clashed.
The Fox & Friends co-host's remarks came in response to New York mayor Bill de Blasio, who said Wednesday that he did not support defunding the NYPD, though he still found comfort in Lennon's 1971 song "Imagine." Responding to that, Kilmeade said that de Blasio "wants you to hum 'Imagine' by John Lennon... John Lennon wouldn't be safe in this city right now. He'd be hiding in his apartment."
As many social media users pointed out, Lennon's murder in front of his Manhattan apartment building in 1980 made headlines and was a somber cultural landmark. Chapman shot Lennon four times with a .38 caliber revolver after approaching him for an autograph. He is still in prison for the murder. That fact, however, was seemingly missed by Kilmeade, who became the center of plenty of jokes and comments on social media. Keep scrolling to see how Twitter reacted to the comment.