It was a comment even too extreme for the conservative cable news network that has spent decades criticizing and demonizing former Secretary of State, Senator and First Lady Hillary Clinton.

Fox News issued an apology to its viewers and Clinton after a guest compared her to “herpes” during the Thanksgiving Day broadcast.

During their morning segment, Turning Point USA’s Director of Spanish Engagement Anna Paulina made an appearance to discuss Clinton’s email scandal with political analyst Doug Schoen.

After Fox News host Rick Leventhal mentioned Clinton’s consistent appearance in the media, Paulina took a moment to make the “herpes” jab.

“She won’t go away. She’s like herpes,” Paulina said, prompting Leventhal to quickly end her appearance, visibly taken aback by her comment.

“OK, that is news that we are breaking here. Not appropriate,” Leventhal said.

Paulina was then taken off the screen as the segment continued on without her. Leventhal later made an apology to viewers over the “language” used. “We are going to wrap this segment a little bit early because of the language that was used in the segment, and we apologize to our viewers for that.”

Fox News anchor Arthel Neville also apologized for the incident.

“We are all Americans, and that is the focus and we want to reiterate that we do not condone the language that Anna Paulina just displayed here, and we apologize to Secretary Clinton for that,” she said after the segment wrapped up. “Fox News does not condone her sentiment.”

For her part, Clinton told The Guardian in an interview today that Europe must get a handle on immigration to combat a growing threat from rightwing populists, calling on the continent’s leaders to send out a stronger signal showing they are “not going to be able to continue to provide refuge and support”.

Clinton praised the generosity shown by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, but suggested immigration was inflaming voters and contributed to the election of Donald Trump and Britain’s vote to leave the EU.

“I think Europe needs to get a handle on migration because that is what lit the flame,” Clinton said, speaking as part of a series of interviews with senior centrist political figures about the rise of populists, particularly on the right, in Europe and the Americas.

Clinton urged forces opposed to rightwing populism in Europe and the US not to neglect the concerns about race and identity issues that she says were behind her losing key votes in 2016. She accused Trump of exploiting the issue in the election contest – and in office.

“The use of immigrants as a political device and as a symbol of government gone wrong, of attacks on one’s heritage, one’s identity, one’s national unity has been very much exploited by the current administration here,” she said.