Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary Pete Hegseth, Fox News host, has many controversies but the most violent one is a video that resurfaced on social media showing him throwing an ax at a man during a live TV stunt. “Fox & Friends co-host Pete Hegseth may have ruined ax throwing on daytime television for everyone else. Members of the Army Hellcats band happened to stand behind the target, and when Hegseth’s throw sailed over the wall, the ax struck drummer,” a 2019 post read. And now the video is viral after Donald Trump named him as the defense secretary.
Why Hegseth threw the ax? What actually happened?
Hegseth, an Army National Guard officer, participated in an ax-throwing contest against Clayton Morris on Fox and Friends. Hegseth hitting a man was not intentional but despite his military training, he could not throw the ax on the target and instead hit a drummer standing on the road. Hegseth was later sued over the incident and the Associated Press reported that the person he struck was a US Army master sergeant.
The person who was suddenly hit by the ax was Jeff Prosperie who said he was not hit hard but did suffer some cuts on his wrist. “It could have been much worse or fatal,” he wrote on Facebook, and said it was the result of “obvious negligence.”
“When shooting or throwing, always know what is behind your target,” he wrote.
Pete Hegseth demonized Islam, dismissed military diversity drive
Pete Hegeseth once said that steps to incorporate women and transgender personnel across the military are eroding US security. His view on Islam is also controversial as he said it is a violent force threatening to overtake America and should be countered by a new crusade.
In his latest book, published this summer ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Hegseth called on America’s next commander in chief to shift the military’s focus — beginning by reverting the Department of Defense to its pre-1947 name, the Department of War.
