Chris Hayes made the remark on Sunday, the eve of Memorial Day, on his show, “Up With Chris Hayes.”
“I feel uncomfortable about the word hero because it seems to me that it is so rhetorically proximate to justifications for more war,” Hayes said.
He added that “there are individual circumstances in which there is genuine, tremendous heroism, you know, hail of gunfire, rescuing fellow soldiers,” but that “it seems to me that we marshal this word in a way that is problematic.”
On Monday, a top veterans group called for Hayes to apologize.
“Chris Hayes’ recent remarks on MSNBC regarding our fallen service members are reprehensible and disgusting,” said Richard DeNoyer, National Commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars, to FOX News.
“His words reflect his obvious disregard for the service and sacrifice of the men and women who have paid the ultimate price while defending our nation. His insipid statement is particularly callous because it comes at a time when our entire nation pauses to reflect and honor the memory of our nations’ fallen heroes.”
Online, critics were no less harsh.
“Memo to Chris: they are heroes, and you don’t get a vote,” wrote Breitbart’s Kurt Schlichter.
Schlichter accused Hayes of making the comment to prove he’s “edgy.”
“And what’s edgier than taking on our troops?”
Political pundit Ann Coulter mocked Hayes on Twitter:
“Chris Hayes ‘Uncomfortable’ Calling Fallen Military ‘Heroes’ – Marines respond by protecting his right to menstruate,” she wrote.
The only defense of Hayes’ comment appeared to come from Hayes himself.
The host took to Twitter to urge followers to watch the entire hour of the show before jumping to conclusions. He also directed them to another one of his show’s segments, in which he discusses how the relationship most Americans have to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is, for the most part, abstract
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