Fox News on Monday afternoon issued a brief correction after spending several days pushing the blatant falsehood that President Joe Biden’s climate plan calls for limits to American red meat consumption.
“On Friday, we told you about a study from the University of Michigan to give some perspective on President Biden’s ambitious climate change goals,” Fox News anchor John Roberts said on Monday’s broadcast of America Reports. “That research, from 2020, found that cutting back how much red meat people eat would have a drastic impact on harmful greenhouse gas emissions.”
He continued: “The data was accurate but a graphic and the script incorrectly implied that it was part of Biden’s plan for dealing with climate change. That is not the case.”
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In more than a few segments, beginning on Friday, Fox News and Fox Business Network personalities ran with a deceptive Daily Mail story blaring that “Biden’s climate plan could limit you to eat just one burger a MONTH.”
The article—which ran as Biden pledged at a climate summit that the United States would cut its greenhouse emissions up to 52 percent by 2030—cited a University of Michigan paper finding that a 90 percent cut to Americans’ red meat consumption could result in a 51 percent reduction in diet-related U.S. greenhouse gases.
There is no link between the study and Biden’s climate policy. As CNN’s resident fact-checker Daniel Dale noted on Monday morning: “Biden has not proposed any limit on Americans’ red meat consumption. In fact, he has not proposed any limit on Americans' consumption of any food.”
During Friday’s broadcast of America’s Newsroom, however, that didn’t stop Roberts from warning viewers they will need to “say goodbye to your burgers if you want to sign up to the Biden climate agenda.” With an on-air graphic blaring “Bye-Bye Burgers Under Biden’s Climate Plan,” Roberts also made a “Where’s the Beef?” joke while discussing the Biden administration’s red meat restrictions that don’t actually exist.
Roberts’ segment with former Trump aide Larry Kudlow—who, on his own FBN show, would bemoan that Americans will be forced to grill Brussels spouts—helped kick off a multi-day outrage cycle on the network, inevitably fueling a false narrative among right-wing media about Biden’s policies.
“Joe Biden’s climate plan includes cutting 90% of red meat from our diets by 2030,” conspiracy peddling Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) tweeted on Saturday. “They want to limit us to about four pounds a year. Why doesn't Joe stay out of my kitchen?”
And while sharing a Fox News on-air graphic claiming Biden would limit red meat consumption to four pounds a year, Donald Trump Jr. wanted everyone to know that he “ate 4 pounds of red meat yesterday” and that the imagined Biden plan was a “hard NO” from him.
