James Murdoch, CEO of 21st Century Fox (FOX) and the son of conservative media magnate Rupert Murdoch, had harsh words about President Donald Trump’s failure to unequivocally condemn hate groups in the wake of a deadly terror attack by a white supremacist in Charlottesville, Va.
In an email to friends obtained by the Hollywood Reporter, Murdoch said Trump’s tepid reaction should “concern all of us as Americans and free people.”
“I can’t even believe I have to write this: standing up to Nazis is essential; there are no good Nazis. Or Klansmen, or terrorists,” Murdoch wrote. “Democrats, Republicans, and others must all agree on this, and it compromises nothing for them to do so.”
Trump was roundly criticized by leaders, celebrities, and others across the political spectrum for his initial failure to call out white supremacist, neo-Nazi, KKK and other hate groups for their role in the violence, instead blaming it on actors from “many sides.”
While the president eventually bowed to pressure and condemned racism, he later reverted to his initial insistence that “both sides” were to blame, arguing that some of the white nationalist protesters in Virginia were “fine people.”
Murdoch’s comments stand out among those of Trump’s other detractors; the Fox News network, which is under the parent company 21st Century Fox, has shown more sympathy to the Trump White House than other major outlets, and the president often praises its coverage.
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Murdoch also pledged to donate $1 million to the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish organization that fights anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry.
