Fox News laps it up

Source: Canva/Fox News

While on Fox & Friends, Falwell recounts a conversation he had had the night before, when a restaurant owner recalled the time “the North Korean leader promised a Christmas present.”

Falwell mused whether North Korea and China “got together” and that coronavirus is “that present.”

Could COVID-19 be the “Christmas Gift” North Korea's leadership promised America back in December?https://t.co/qMf91I6CgA

— Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) March 13, 2020

Which one is it?

Source: Canva

Some of his comments caused a storm on social media with many listeners confused as to how the COVID-19 pandemic could both be “overreacting” and simultaneously an act of war by North Korea.

The always helpful Jerry Falwell Jr on Fox&Friends: Liberty U will continue to hold classes on campus. Canceling would be "an overreaction." Then says coronavirus is an effort to impeach Trump and suggests the virus is the "Christmas present" N Korea promised.

— Wayne Slater (@WayneSlater) March 13, 2020

Thanks, Obama!

Source: Barack Obama Presidential Library

One tweet also pointed out that former President Barack Obama had declared Swine Flu a public emergency before the first death in the United States.

@JerryFalwellJr pic.twitter.com/0r0aawCUPG

— Marnah Shearman (@ShearmanMarnah) March 13, 2020

Science isn’t your strong suit

Source: Wikimedia

Other critics questioned Falwell’s authority to make claims about a novel viral outbreak and global pandemic in the face of informed experts on the situation.

Jerry Falwell Jr.’s comments about #CoronavirusPandemic are dangerous. The @LibertyU Master of Public Health program with concentration Epidemiology is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health. @CEPHtweets should review. Call Laura Rasar King, ED. #PublicHealth pic.twitter.com/lH4bZJcyxj

— Nancy Levine 🌊Vote.org (@nancylevine) March 13, 2020

Facts are important

Source: Pixabay

Some viewers criticized the Fox & Friends program for not fact-checking before they aired the interview on national television.

Jerry Falwell saying this is unconscionable.
But Fox News AIRING this is criminal. https://t.co/lJGn6wP3K0

— Sally Kohn (@sallykohn) March 13, 2020

Rise up, Virginia?

Source: Wikimedia

Falwell ended the Fox News interview by calling on counties in the western part of Virginia to break away from the Commonwealth and join the state of West Virginia.

How this related to the theory of the COVID-19 pandemic being both an overhyped political tool and a bioweapons attack remains anyone’s guess.