Media

Glenn Beck on Notre Dame blaze: ‘This is their World Trade Center moment’

by Joe Concha - 04/16/19 11:28 AM ET

Blaze Media host Glenn Beck said the devastating fire the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris was France’s “World Trade Center moment” during his program’s commentary segment on Monday.

“This is their 9/11,” Beck said. “This is a world landmark and probably, next to the Eiffel Tower, the most iconic building in all of France, and more important than the Eiffel Tower.”

{mosads}Beck also speculated that the fire may have been intentionally set by “Islamists,” despite fire officials ruling out arson.

There has been no evidence presented to link the fire to any sort of terrorist threat. But Beck argued that if there were it would be kept “quiet.”

“If this was arson this is going to be bad,” he said. “It might have just been started by a cigarette, we don’t know. But if this was started by Islamists, I don’t think you’ll find out about it, because I think it would set the entire country on fire. They’ve had killings, they’ve had mass shootings, they’ve had people running people down in the streets — the tension is very high.”

“This is their World Trade Center moment, and if this was done by terrorists I think that they will keep it quiet,” Beck added.

One firefighter was injured but no one else was hurt in the fire, according to Reuters.

The commentary from Beck comes four months after TheBlaze and CRTV have merged to create Blaze Media.

TheBlaze was founded by Beck, a former Fox News host, in 2011 not long after parting ways with the network, while CRTV was founded in 2014 by current Fox News host Mark Levin, who also hosts a nationally syndicated radio program.

Beck’s comments have resulted in blowback on Twitter, resulting in him trending on the platform on Tuesday:

this by glenn beck considerably worse than anything rep. ilhan omar has said about 9/11 pic.twitter.com/A4SktmUFzd

— Marlow Stern (@MarlowNYC) April 16, 2019

Glenn Beck is trying start a conspiracy theory that the Notre Dame fire might have been started “by Islamists” even though the Paris prosecutor’s office has ruled out arson and possible terror-related motives pic.twitter.com/LVljln5N5K

— Edward Hardy (@EdwardTHardy) April 16, 2019

Any time Glenn Beck is trending, you know the world is about to become a much stupider place.

— Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) April 16, 2019

I guess it doesn’t matter to Glenn Beck that Masjid Al-Aqsa, the THIRD most holiest building to Muslims, was on fire the same time as Notre Dame. But, yeah, Islamists ruin everything.

— Ebony SkyTalker (@sfreynolds) April 16, 2019

Tags Glenn Beck Notre Dame fire