By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) -The United Nations was shocked, U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Friday, when a Fox News host called for the world body to be bombed over U.S. President Donald Trump’s difficulties with an escalator and a teleprompter.
Jesse Watters had privately apologized to U.N. global communications chief Melissa Fleming after the United Nations contacted Fox News about the remarks he made in a Tuesday broadcast, Dujarric said.
Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“There is nothing funny or ironic in calling for the bombing, the gassing, the destruction of this building,” Dujarric told reporters on Friday. “That kind of language is unacceptable.”
“We know painfully the reality of what happens when threats are made against the U.N. We lost friends in Baghdad. I personally walked through the rubble of the building in Algiers where the U.N. was bombed, our colleagues in Abuja were also bombed,” he said.
Watters made the remarks while discussing Trump’s address to world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. Trump complained about an elevator that had stopped shortly after he stepped onto it and a teleprompter that did not work.
“What we need to do is either leave the U.N. or we need to bomb it,” Watters said. “Maybe gas it … we need to destroy it.”
The United Nations has said the escalator abruptly stopped after Trump and first lady Melania Trump stepped on to it likely because a White House videographer accidentally triggered a safety mechanism. Trump also experienced issues with the teleprompter, but a U.N. official said it was being operated by the White House.
Dujarric said the United Nations stands by its preliminary findings, which had been shared with the United States.
Nearly 150 heads of state and government have been delivering their annual addresses to the 193-member General Assembly this week under traditionally tight security.
(Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Howard Goller)
