On Valentine’s Day, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the city had filed a lawsuit against TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and YouTube to hold the companies responsible for a nationwide youth mental health crisis. Fox News host Greg Gutfeld took viewers on a wild ride when he and the rest of the his “Gutfeld!” panel discussed the suit over the weekend.
At one point, Gutfeld morbidly joked that the companies could get out of it “by just killing somebody” (and that might not be the weirdest part of the segment).
“He’s right, because we’ll all be talking about that,” panelist and former professional wrestler Tyrus said. Gutfeld added, “Right? They won’t get arrested,” making clear the point of his joke was another shot at New York City’s lawsuit that he felt meant they somehow weren’t prioritizing prosecuting murderers.
Panelist Julie Banderas added, “A lot of divorces would end a lot cleaner that way, too” as Gutfeld laughed and Tyrus said, “I agree. I just feel like you’ve got to be able to just prove— you just need one good reason for justifiable homicide.”
Gutfeld made it clear at the beginning of the segment that he didn’t agree with the lawsuit. After he said the suit accused the companies of “manipulating kids to get them addicted,” Gutfeld added, “I don’t know what that means.”
He then asked Banderas, “Is this exactly what NYC should be focusing on right now?” She answered, “This is so stupid. First of all, sue the stupid parents, that’s what you should be doing.”
“Because parents don’t know how to parent!” Banderas added to audience applause. Feigning horror, Gutfeld retorted, “You want the government to sue the parents?”
“I mean, sue somebody who should be taking responsibility for their stupid kids having too much screen time,” Banderas said, before going on to defend corporations. “Who’s responsible for that? The parents, the government, the city. The social media companies are not responsible. They’re there for free for children to use at their will. Children should not be making these decisions on their own. Parents should.”
“My kids have tried to sue me multiple times,” Banderas continued. “But I will not pay for this lawyer, because I paid for enough attorneys … my kids, f–k ’em, they’ll go to therapy later in life.” Banderas is a mom of three kids, and her oldest was born in April 2010.
Gutfeld then suggested to Kat Timpf that the city sue “the rapists and the murderers in New York City instead.”
“No kidding,” she replied. “If you’re counting on New York state to … have the responsibility of your children’s mental health, god help you, right? But nobody is. This is cash grab.”
“A lot of these companies, first of all, the last thing you should want to do is pissing them off because they have a lot of real estate here. They pay a lot of taxes here. I don’t know who New York expects to keep paying these taxes, because they’re pissing off everybody. They’re making it impossible to do business here,” Timpf continued.
“And every single day, they’re like, ‘I have an idea’: Another cash grab that makes it an even less welcoming environment for businesses. Who’s going to pay for all this s–t? I’m so over it. The amount that I pay in taxes, you pay in taxes, you walk outside and you look around and you’re like, ‘It smells like piss.’ Where does all of my money go? Where does it go?”
“It’s being pissed away!” Gutfeld yelled. “Your money’s being pissed away!”
Watch the entire segment from “Gutfeld!” in the video above.
