Fox News guest apologizes for comparing Hillary Clinton to herpes during segment mix-up

Joel Shannon | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Hillary Clinton leaves door open for 2020: 'I’d like to be president' Hillary Clinton has opened the door for another possible presidential run, saying at an event, “I’d like to be president.”

Fox News guest Anna Paulina apologized for comparing former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to a sexually transmitted disease in a Thursday segment broadcast by the network.

"Yesterday on Fox I was placed on the wrong segment & in the confusion made a brash and unprofessional joke," Paulina tweeted Friday. "To Fox and those watching, I am deeply sorry."

The network offered on-air apologies and cut Paulina's segment short, Fox News said in a Friday statement to USA TODAY.

The clip, as published by The Daily Caller, shows the confusion that led up to the controversial comment.

In the clip, Paulina is introduced as the director of Hispanic engagement at a conservative organization. She is asked to comment on recent news surrounding Hillary Clinton, but she instead begins to talk about border security.

Yesterday on Fox I was placed on the wrong segment & in the confusion made a brash and unprofessional joke. To Fox and those watching, I am deeply sorry.



My feeling simply is that Big Government creates dynasties like the Clintons that won’t go away & Americans are over it. — Anna Paulina (@realannapaulina) November 23, 2018

Fox News host Rick Leventhal interrupts Paulina to redirect the conversation to Clinton, as Paulina laughs about the apparent mistake, offering an inaudible explanation.

After directing a question to another guest, Leventhal expresses amazement that Clinton is still making national headlines two years after she lost the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump.

"She won't go away," Paulina said with a sigh. "She's like herpes."

Leventhal immediately distances himself from the comment: "Um, okay. That's news that we're breaking here. Not appropriate."

He later apologized to viewers for "the language that was used in the segment," Fox News said in a statement.

Another host also apologized later: “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." Arthel Neville said, according to a Fox News statement. "Fox News does not condone her sentiment.”

The segment discussed Clinton in the wake of a New York Times report that said, citing unnamed sources, President Donald Trump had expressed a desire for the Justice Department to pursue charges against Clinton.

The controversy involving Paulina is not the first time this year a media personality came under criticism for comparing a powerful woman to a sexually transmitted disease. In July, comedian Michelle Wolf compared Ivanka Trump to herpes in a segment punctuated with expletives.