Fox News hosts have pilloried residents of New York and Washington DC for wearing masks after raging wildfires in Canada enveloped the cities in acrid smoke.
As New York recorded the worst air pollution in the world on Wednesday, a procession of anchors and guests on the right-wing network denied clear scientific evidence that the smoke was dangerous.
The Ingraham Angle host Laura Ingraham brought on guest Steve Milloy, touted as a former Trump Environmental Protection Agency transition team member, who claimed that the thick orange smoke that clogged the New York skyline this week was harmless.
“This doesn’t kill anybody, this doesn’t make anybody cough. This is not a health event, this has got nothing to do with climate,” Mr Milloy claimed.
“Amazing,” Ingraham responded with a laugh.
She went on to claim that “media figures” on other cable networks were “enjoying the moment of wearing masks again”.
“They seem to have a pep in their step,” she said.
As the pair joked about the threat of particulate matter in smoke causing illness, chyrons flashed underneath them reading “climate cult uses Canadian fire to co-opt freedom”, and “radical left uses wildfire smoke as climate cudgel”.
Earlier, The Five host Jeannine Pirro had claimed that Democrats were “pumping up climate hysteria and bringing back, you guessed it, mask insanity.”
Her comments came after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders linked the wildfires to the ongoing climate crisis - as scientists have been doing for years.
Then on Jessie Watters Primetime, host Jessie Watters mocked warnings from city and state officials to remain indoors.
“Covid: stay home, wear a mask. Smoke bomb: stay home, wear a mask. Elections: stay home, wear a mask. Nuke strike: stay home, wear a mask,” he said during a monologue.
“The government is prepared for anything.”
Not to be outdone, Sean Hannity used his 9pm primetime show to claim he hadn’t felt any effect after doing his regular workout that day.
“I keep reading and hearing reports and people being interviewed. ‘I had a hard time breathing,’” he said.
“And I’m like, ‘I’m walking in the same place you’re walking in and I don’t feel a thing’,” he said.
“I think if it was difficult—if I was having difficulty breathing I would notice—but these are young people saying this. Are they all snowflakes?”
More than 400 wildfires raging across Canada have brought apocalyptic-like conditions to the US Eastern Seaboard, forcing cancellations of Broadway shows, pro-sports games and thousands of flights this week.
