Fox News Sunday host Chris Wallace is accusing former Fox News host Chris Matthews of bias for a story about an Alabama church where a young woman was raped and left bleeding to death.
The Fox News personality and his fellow hosts have come under fire for using the word “rape” in a report on a violent church that left a 19-year-old woman with permanent brain damage.
Wade Pataki, who has a strong interest in Islam, said in a tweet Friday that Matthews’ comments were “disgusting.”
Matthews did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Matthews, a former correspondent for Fox News, wrote the article in January titled, “Gutsy young women are raped in Alabama church” and reported that police were “throwing away rape kits and saying that they were ‘out of their minds’ because the rape victim did not report the attack.”
The story included a screenshot of a phone call between a police detective and a member of the congregation, which he described as “an unspeakable scene.”
Matthews said in the story that he had no idea about the incident and was trying to find out.
The New York Times later published a report saying Matthews fabricated the story and accused him of bias because he did not “expect to be accused of having an agenda.”
The newspaper said Matthews had also made derogatory comments about Muslims, including that they have “little chance” of winning the U.S. election and that “it would be very hard for a Muslim to win.”