Fox apologises for Birmingham 'Muslim-only city' gaffe

London, Jan 19: US Broadcaster Fox News today apologised for airing comments from an American terrorism expert who claimed that the British city of Birmingham is "a totally Muslim city" where non-Muslims simply "don't go".

Steven Emerson, an American terrorism commentator, made the claims as he spoke to the channel about the terror attacks in France last week.

Emerson retracted his claims after being contacted by media outlets.

Fox yesterday said it "deeply regrets" the errors and apologised to the people of Birmingham.

Issuing the apology presenter Jeanine Pirro, who was interviewing Emerson when he made the claims, said a guest had made "a series of factual errors that we wrongly let stand unchallenged and uncorrected."

"The guest asserted that the city of Birmingham, England, is totally Muslim and that it is a place where non-Muslims don't go," she said.

"Both are incorrect." She went on to say census data from 2011 indicated 22 per cent of the population of Birmingham identified themselves as Muslim.

"We could find nothing that indicated Birmingham is a so -called no-go zone.

"We deeply regret these errors and apologise to the people of Birmingham, our viewers and all who have been offended."

Emerson's comments led to a Twitter backlash with the hashtag Fox News Facts trending with people inventing humorous "facts".

British Prime Minister David Cameron had also criticised Emerson dubbing him as a "complete idiot".

"Frankly I choked on my porridge and thought it must be April Fool's Day. This guy is clearly a complete idiot," Cameron had said last week.

The apology also comes after Emerson attempted to make amends by donating 500 pounds to Birmingham Children's Hospital, and telling Sky News listening back to his comments is like "water-boarding", the Telegraph reported.

Comments

Add new comment

Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.

In meeting with Zohran Mamdani, Trump repeats claim he stopped India-Pak war

Agencies

November 22,2025

New York/Washington: US President Donald Trump has again claimed to have solved the conflict between India and Pakistan, repeating his assertion during a meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office.

Mamdani flew to Washington DC for his first meeting with Trump in the White House on Friday. Trump said he “enjoyed” the meeting, which he described as “great.”

During remarks in the Oval Office, with Mamdani standing next to him, Trump repeated his claim that he solved the May conflict between India and Pakistan.

"I did eight peace deals of countries, including India and Pakistan,” he said.

On Wednesday, Trump had said he threatened to put 350 per cent tariffs on India and Pakistan if they did not end their conflict, repeating his claim that he solved the fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours and that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called him to say “we're not going to go to war.”

Since May 10, when Trump announced on social media that India and Pakistan had agreed to a “full and immediate” ceasefire after a “long night” of talks mediated by Washington, he has repeated his claim over 60 times that he “helped settle” the tensions between India and Pakistan.

India has consistently denied any third-party intervention. India launched Operation Sindoor on May 7, targeting terror infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam attack that killed 26 civilians. India and Pakistan reached an understanding on May 10 to end the conflict after four days of intense cross-border drone and missile strikes.

Mamdani emerged victorious in the closely-watched battle for New York City Mayor, becoming the first South Asian and Muslim to be elected to sit at the helm of the largest city in the US.

He had been the front-runner in the NYC Mayoral election for months and defeated Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa and political heavyweight former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent candidate and was officially endorsed by Trump just hours before the elections.

Indian-descent Mamdani is the son of renowned filmmaker Mira Nair and Columbia University professor Mahmood Mamdani. He was born and raised in Kampala, Uganda and moved to New York City with his family when he was 7. Mamdani became a naturalised US citizen only recently, in 2018.

Comments