Brian Kilmeade (born May 7, 1964) is an American television and radio presenter and political commentator for Fox News. On weekdays he co-hosts the morning show, Fox & Friends, and he hosts the Fox News Radio program The Brian Kilmeade Show. On weekends, he hosts One Nation with Brian Kilmeade, which premiered January 29, 2022. He has authored or co-authored non-fiction and fiction books.
Early life and education
Kilmeade was born 1964 in Massapequa, New York. He is the second son of Marie Rose D'Andrea after she married James Kilmeade Jr. in 1960. Brian's father was born in 1931, the son of James Kilmeade Sr., who was born in 1905 in Longford, Ireland, came to New York in 1925, and became a U.S. citizen in 1930. Brian's mother Marie was born in 1934 in Ozone Park and raised in St. Albans, Queens.
After graduating from Massapequa High School in 1982, Kilmeade attended LIU Post in Brookville, New York, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1986.
Career
He began his career as a correspondent on Channel One News, a daily national high school television news program. He later served as an anchor and host for KHSL-TV in Chico, California. He co-hosted The Jim Brown Show on KLSD, an all-sports radio network. In 1993, Kilmeade joined Jim Brown as part of the announcing team for the inaugural Ultimate Fighting Championship event, conducting post-fight interviews. He moved into the play-by-play role for UFC 2 and UFC 3 in 1994.
Kilmeade was a freelance sports anchor for WVIT (NBC) in Hartford, Connecticut, beginning in 1997. He was a sideline reporter for MSG's coverage of Major League Soccer, specifically for the MetroStars.
Later, he worked as a feature reporter and anchor for NewSport where he hosted NewSport Journal, a daily magazine show for the national sports network. He also anchored Scoreboard Central, a live half-hour general sports program. According to his website biography, he has 10 years' experience as a stand-up comedian.
Since 1998 he has co-hosted Fox's cable morning television show, Fox and Friends, along with Steve Doocy and E. D. Hill. In April 2006, he filled in the Fox News Radio time slot of former Fox anchor Tony Snow, who had left the network to become the White House Press Secretary for the George W. Bush Administration. He is a frequent panelist on The Five airing nightly at 5 p.m. eastern on FNC. He also hosts the Fox News Radio program The Brian Kilmeade Show and hosts "What Made America Great" on Fox Nation. , he also hosts One Nation with Brian Kilmeade, weekends on Fox News.
In late April 2023, Kilmeade was selected to replace the removed Tucker Carlson, in hosting Fox News Tonight, the replacement for Tucker Carlson Tonight, for the week of April 24th. Kilmeade was succeeded as host for the week of May 1st by Lawrence Jones.
Views and controversial remarks
Kilmeade expressed support for the right-wing group English Defence League, often described as an islamophobic extremist group, during an interview with their leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who also uses the name 'Tommy Robinson'. He finished the interview with the words "Tommy, we got your back and we'll definitely look to keep in touch, it's great what you're doing".
"We keep marrying other species and other ethnics" On July 8, 2009, Kilmeade and two co-hosts were discussing a study that, based on research done in Finland and Sweden, showed people who stay married are less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease. Kilmeade, whose paternal grandfather was Irish, commented, "[In the United States] we keep marrying other species and other ethnics." Ignoring attempts by co-host Gretchen Carlson (who is of Swedish descent) to interrupt him, he added, "See, the problem is the Swedes have pure genes. Because they marry other Swedes... Finns marry other Finns, so they have a pure society. In America we marry everybody, we marry Italians and Irish."
On July 20, 2009, Kilmeade apologized for his remarks, saying, "I made comments that were offensive to many people. That was not my intention, and looking back at those comments I realize they were inappropriate. For that I sincerely apologize. America [is a] huge melting pot, and that is what makes us such a great country."
"All terrorists are Muslims" In 2010, Kilmeade said "not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims." Kilmeade later said he misspoke, "I don't believe all terrorists are Muslims... What I should have said, and I'd like to clarify, is all terrorists who killed us on 9/11; with the Cole; and the Khobar; and the '98 embassies; that's what I should have said."