Greta Thunberg is Scaring the Hell Out of Fox News

You can tell Fox News is terrified of Greta Thunberg and her uncompromising, emotional climate protest movement, because they won't stop insulting her.

The 16-year-old Swedish activist made headlines this week for spearheading New York’s protest during the global climate strikes and for her powerful speech pressuring world leaders to act on climate change. Pundit Michael Knowles, appearing in a segment about “climate hysteria” on “The Story” on Monday, used the opportunity to throw an ugly attack at Thunberg.

“The climate hysteria movement is not about science,” said Knowles, a podcast host on the Daily Wire. “If it were about science, it would be led by scientists rather than by politicians and a mentally ill Swedish child who is being exploited by her parents and by the international left.”

Another guest on the show, liberal radio host Christopher Hahn, jumped in and fired back at Knowles.

“You’re a grown man and you’re attacking a child,” Hahn said. “Shame on you.”

READ: These climate strike kids will restore your hope in humanity

Thunberg has spoken openly about being diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, calling it a “superpower” that has helped her in the fight against climate change.

A clip of Knowles’ insults went viral, and Fox News has issued an apology, saying that it has no plans to put him on the air again.

"The comment made by Michael Knowles who was a guest on The Story tonight was disgraceful — we apologize to Greta Thunberg and to our viewers," the channel said in a statement.

But one of Fox’s own hosts made fun of the teenage activist as well. On her show “The Ingraham Angle,” Fox’s Laura Ingraham played a clip of Thunberg’s impassioned speech at the U.N. on Monday, during which she told world leaders “Change is coming, whether you like it or not.”

“Anyone else find that chilling?” Ingraham asked, before playing a clip from the 1984 film “Children of the Corn,” which was about a kids’ cult.

“I can’t wait for Stephen King’s sequel, ‘Children of the Climate,’” Ingraham added.

Fox has made it a regular practice of mocking teenage climate activists, despite the fact that they mobilized some 4 million people across more than 160 countries during the global climate strikes on Friday.

READ: Teen climate activists wanted real action. The UN gave them iMovie lessons and a 'Games of Thrones' actor.

Ingraham, for instance, had a segment on Friday where she and a guest claimed the teens’ passion was just “hysteria.” On “Fox & Friends” Friday morning, the hosts mocked the idea that kids were missing school to urge action on climate change — right before they talked about massive, deadly rainfall from Hurricane Imelda in Houston.

By the time Monday rolled around, “Fox & Friends” was saying Thunberg was just fearmongering.

“Well, she sells fear,” guest Marc Morano said. “Greta Thunberg started in Sweden, every Friday outside the Swedish Parliament, and it spread — to skip school in order to have a future.”

Morano then claimed that kids have had to get anti-anxiety medication over fears of climate change.

“She is the Greta Effect,” he said on the Fox morning show. “She's causing and instilling fear in millions of kids around the world, and actually has them believing that government can legislate our climate.”

Thunberg, meanwhile, has continued her work amid the insults. She and 15 other children filed a complaint with the U.N. on Monday against five major world economies — Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina, and Turkey — alleging the nations had violated their human rights by not doing enough to combat the climate crisis.

Cover: Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks as she takes part during the Climate Strike, Friday, Sept. 20, 2019 in New York. Tens of thousands of protesters joined rallies on Friday as a day of worldwide demonstrations calling for action against climate change began ahead of a U.N. summit in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)