Fox News host Greg Gutfeld sparked widespread outrage after suggesting conservatives should reclaim the word “Nazi” in a manner he compared to the Black community’s reclamation of a racial slur. The remarks, made Tuesday on the panel show The Five, drew immediate and harsh criticism, with commentators accusing Gutfeld of normalizing Nazism.
The discussion arose during a segment about a recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid on a California cannabis farm, where the hosts criticized what they described as “violent anti-ICE rhetoric” from Democrats. The raid resulted in the death of 57-year-old farm worker Jaime Alanís and led to protests where a local professor was arrested for allegedly throwing a tear gas canister back at agents.
In response to progressives who have used the term “Nazi” to describe the Trump administration’s immigration agenda, Gutfeld argued that conservatives should co-opt the insult to neutralize it.
“This is why the criticism doesn’t matter to us when you call us Nazis,” he said. “You know what? I’ve said this before. We need to learn from the Blacks. The way they were able to remove the power from the n-word by using it. So, from now on, it’s, ‘What up, my Nazi? Hey, what up, my Nazi?’”
Co-host Lisa “Kennedy” Montgomery interjected with, “Nazi, please,” while Jesse Watters was heard laughing in the background.
The segment quickly went viral, prompting condemnation across social and traditional media. Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan argued the comments “would destroy the careers of any other journalist on any other mainstream national media platform,” while conservative writer Cathy Young called the hosts “beneath contempt.”
Multiple observers described the segment as a real-time “normalization of Nazism,” with several journalists drawing parallels to a 2018 cartoon by Matt Bors that satirized right-wingers blaming progressives for their own radicalization.
Jonah Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and a former Fox News contributor, acknowledged Gutfeld was likely “joking” but added, “I don’t think he’s thought this through. And that’s the best defense I can offer.”
Gutfeld’s remarks are part of a pattern of increasingly extreme rhetoric. He has previously floated the idea of a civil war because, in his view, “elections don’t work.” His suggestion to reclaim the term “Nazi” also stands in stark contrast to his own past use of the word as a severe condemnation. Last year, he claimed that transgender healthcare providers “will be seen as no different than the Nazi doctors who experimented on Jews,” stating he “cannot wait” for such a reckoning.