Homelessness is a crisis in our major cities. But we have to always remember that people who are homeless have equal intrinsic dignity as all other human beings.

That is why I was appalled that — in a recent discussion about the atrocious murder of Iryna Zarutska by a mentally ill homeless man — Fox News personality Brian Kilmeade said that if the mentally ill homeless don’t accept hospitalization, they should be, well, killed.

Yes. He actually said that.

When Kilmeade’s co-host Lawrence Jones said, “You can’t give them a choice” to accept help, “or be locked up in jail,” Kilmeade replied, “Or involuntary lethal injection, or something. You just kill ’em.” The hosts then went on to talk North Carolina politics around this issue.

I know we live in volatile and emotional times. And I do think that we talk too much about what we owe the homeless and not enough about what they owe us and themselves, including participating in remediating their own plight, if they’re able.

But Kilmeade is not a would-be TikTok influencer. He is a major personality on the country’s most watched cable news channel. Given the violence we have witnessed in recent days, such a reckless statement about murdering homeless people is utterly unacceptable.

Kilmeade — and Fox — should apologize. And perhaps he should work to keep his emotions in check while broadcasting. With great influence comes equal responsibility.