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Mediaite published a report on Wednesday accusing Gretchen Carlson of claiming that she finds it "sickening" that Osama bin Laden offered praise to Allah, and that Allah is not God — claims that the Fox News host fervently rebutted.
The debate began after the outlet recapped a brief segment that aired on Wednesday's episode of "The Real Story" in which Carlson discussed now-public documents that were recovered from bin Laden's compound.
Mediaite focused specifically on her statements about the contents of an Al Qaeda job application that gives insight into terrorists' recruitment operations.
"It turns out the Al Qaeda recruitment form looks a lot like any other job application ... questions like list your previous occupations. Have you been in jail or prison? Do you have any chronic or heredity diseases? Then it gets more Al Qaeda-ish," Carlson said in the segment. "Are any of your relatives in the jihad theater? Do you wish to execute a suicide operation? Who should we contact if you become a martyr?"
She continued, "The most sickening part though is the last line: 'Praise Allah, lord of all worlds.' Nope. Not really at all."
It was this 10-second line that Mediaite interpreted as Carlson, who is a Christian, "suggesting that their God is not our God," thus possibly differentiating the Christian God from the God who is worshipped by Muslims.
Watch the clip below to see the 10 seconds in which she discusses the "praise Allah" line:
But Carlson took to Twitter later on Wednesday to explain herself, claiming that the outlet got it wrong.
"@Mediaite got my take wrong," she wrote. "I meant it was crazy Osama Bin Laden 'praised Allah' as if Allah was condoning his acts of terror."
A text version of Carlson's monologue includes the line, "There is no God that would ever condone any act of terror," after she says "Nope. Not really at all," though this clarifying statement is not present in the video segment that was clipped and posted online.
Regardless, Carlson and Mediaite editor-in-chief Andrew Kirell got into a back-and-forth on Twitter over the disagreement:
.@Mediaite got my take wrong. I meant it was crazy Osama Bin Laden "praised Allah" as if Allah was condoning his acts of terror
— Gretchen Carlson (@GretchenCarlson) May 20, 2015.@GretchenCarlson We got your take exactly as u said it. If u actually meant to say that, u should’ve said it. Added yr tweet as a comment.
— Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) May 20, 2015@Mediaite@AndrewKirell U wrote "of course the Fox host was suggesting that their God is not our God". Really? Never said that. Thx
— Gretchen Carlson (@GretchenCarlson) May 20, 2015@GretchenCarlson@Mediaite Only way to interpret it, because of how you said your actual words. We’ve added your tweet as a comment.
— Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) May 20, 2015@GretchenCarlson@Mediaite If you meant to say it was crazy that he’d suggest God condones him, you should’ve… you know… said it.
— Andrew Kirell (@AndrewKirell) May 20, 2015Adding an update to the original story, Mediaite didn't back down, writing that Carlson had been accurately transcribed, and that she should have considered being more direct.
"We transcribed Carlson’s words exactly as they were said. And you can watch the video above for yourself," the outlet wrote. "If she meant to say what she claims she meant, then maybe she should have, you know… said it."
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