Chris Crocker takes on Fox News

Friday, Lyle posted on mainstream reporting of the Chris Crocker “Leave Britney Alone” video. Lyle pointed out that ABC’s decision to include in their report a violence-inciting anti-gay slur was potentially irresponsible.

No surprise, but ABC’s coverage was far better than what was offered up over on Fox — Fox chose to play the first 10 seconds of the clip and then, muting the audio, spent the remainder of the segment tittering over whether Crocker was a man or a woman.

“Is that a guy or a girl?”
“That’s a guy, I think.”
Titter
“He’s in touch with himself, I can tell you that.”
Snort
Hey, she has an adam’s apple!
Tee Hee!

…and on they go.

Something about seeing these Fox talking heads so clearly having a laugh at the way Crocker looks made me suddenly feel protective of the kid.

They essentially dismiss Crocker as a crackpot. Which, okay, might in fact be true — but what really gets under my skin is how the Fox “reporting team” seemed to base that conclusion on Crocker’s appearance.

He’s a guy wearing makeup, therefore he must be a loon.

Crocker took the same point and responds to Fox in the video after the break. (To his credit, he seems to have partially regained his composure since last we heard from him.