The set of “Fox & Friends” apologized on air Monday after accidentally running a graphic announcing that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died.
“We need to apologize,” Steve Doocy said moments later. “A technical error in the control room triggered a graphic of Ruth Bader Ginsburg with a date on it. We don’t want to make it seem anything other than a mistake, that was an accident. We believe she is still at home recovering from surgery.”
“We apologize, big mistake,” added fellow co-host Ainsley Earhardt.
“This was a technical error that emanated from the graphics team,” the network said in an additional comment to TheWrap.
Ginsburg, who is 85, recently underwent surgery for cancerous nodules that were found in her lungs. The growths were only discovered after Ginsburg underwent a pre-operative scan when she broke a rib after a fall in November. Her exact condition and prognosis currently remains unclear, though experts told CNBC that they expected Ginsburg would make a full recover and return to the bench in February.
The court’s longtime liberal stalwart has survived two previous bouts of cancer in the past in 1999 and 2009. She famously came through both cases without missing a single day on the bench. Her latest fight with the disease has taken her off the bench for 2019 oral arguments so far.
Her recent health woes have jangled liberal nerves at the possibility that President Trump and a Republican Senate might be able to name a third Supreme Court Justice. Since his election, the president has already moved the court significantly rightward with the additions of Justice Neil Gorsuch and Justice Brett Kavanaugh. A conservative replacement for Ginsburg would likely cement that balance for a generation.