Fox News brought on conservative activist Brent Bozell on Wednesday afternoon to mount a spirited defense of the anchor who’s come under fire for questioning why an Islamic religious scholar dared to write a book about Jesus.
Always eager to take on the “liberal media,” Bozell, the founder of the conservative Media Research Center, joined host Shannon Bream in providing cover for anchor Lauren Green, who grilled author Reza Aslan last week over his book, Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.
“I’ll be the first one to stand up and applaud Lauren Green for the question that she asked,” Bozell said. “It was the exact, correct question that needed to be asked.”
Bream said the “liberal media has been quiet on the subject matter” of Aslan’s book but it “cannot control its outrage” over Green’s question. Green, who is a religion correspondent for Fox News, repeatedly asked Aslan why, as Muslim, he would write a book about Jesus. The interview has drawn Fox widespread mockery.
But both Bream and Bozell insisted that Green is being treated unfairly. Bozell said Green is a “good, good woman” and Bream called her colleague is “fantastic.”
“I often encounter her in the halls and have always found her to be a very fantastic colleague, somebody who does care about what’s at the root of these stories and asks those questions,” Bream said.
Ironically, Aslan appeared on MSNBC shortly before Bozell’s appearance on Fox and actually expressed sympathy for Green.
“Look, I feel really bad for Lauren Green,” Aslan said, suggesting that the anchor was simply parroting questions from a producer.
Aslan took to Twitter to respond to Bozell, who suggested that the author may not be a very good Muslim:
Right wing founder of Media Research Center @BrentBozell says I’m “not a very good Muslim” Which is it guys? Devout Secret or Bad Muslim?
— Reza Aslan (@rezaaslan) July 31, 2013
This post has been updated.
