Fox News' Bob Beckel And Greg Gutfeld Insist They Were Joking About 'Pulling Punches' With Sarah Palin (VIDEO)

The Fox News hosts who said they've "pulled punches" with Sarah Palin because she is a coworker clarified their remarks on Thursday, insisting they were joking.

Bob Beckel and Greg Gutfeld caused a stir after saying on "The Five" that they've sometimes gone easy on the former governor due to her Fox News contributor status. When the comments hit the Internet, the two went to the AP to say they had not been serious.

On Thursday's episode of "The Five," Beckel and Gutfeld mocked the media for picking up the remarks. Gutfeld said that his comment that he tries to go easy on Palin because it would be awkward if he sees her "in a hallway" was clearly meant to be humorous because "she lives in Alaska--the hallway would have to be 5,000 miles long for me to actually run into her." He said the media only ran the stories because Palin was like "heroin" to them.

Beckel mimed choking himself with his tie and told the many, many "rags" that covered the remarks to "get a life."

"To say about me that I am not tough on Sarah Palin, are you kidding me?" he said.

WATCH:

Comments

[grayplace]

07:03 PM on 08/09/2011

They must have gotten a memo from the Bosses.

[Alex Smith7]

02:10 AM on 08/09/2011

Yikes, gotta be careful in joking around. No matter how clear you are on it apparently people are going to jump on it and start the foaming at the mouth over OMG FOX NEWS BIAS!

[hoagie76]

12:48 AM on 08/09/2011

and where are all the fox tr()//2 on this one......?

[dimplasm]

12:43 AM on 08/09/2011

Oh, you two. What a couple of cut ups!

[firstcougar1]

12:38 AM on 08/09/2011

Speak the truth and when it is caught on video then they lie. Pitiful!

[troy888]

12:29 AM on 08/09/2011

PALIN IS A CLOWN AND THEY SHOULD COME OUT AND SAY IT. SHE EVEN KNOW SHES A BIG JOKE.

[troy888]

12:26 AM on 08/09/2011

two grown men scared to speak there minds . SAD.

[Lahonda]

09:23 PM on 08/08/2011

I wonder if their souls came out of their ears or nostrils when the producers turned on the machine.

[eddw88]

07:24 PM on 08/08/2011

Seems like a certain producer was angry at a certain panel. Talk about backstroking.

[hoagie76]

12:46 AM on 08/09/2011

More like a reach around

[redhead55]

06:12 PM on 08/08/2011

Oh no, not the I know I said it but don't believe what I said skit that cons love to play. Why don't they just 'man up' and admit it.

[Lahonda]

09:21 PM on 08/08/2011

No. It's the I know I said it but don't mean what I said because the large jar on her mantle is getting all too crowded by many oysters much larger that anything possessed by these two "men."

[firstcougar1]

12:38 AM on 08/09/2011

It is impossible for them to man up about anything.

[friendjudy]

03:08 PM on 08/08/2011

pants on fire

[Aleks Hunter]

01:45 PM on 08/08/2011

Perhaps a new slogan for FOX: "And that's the day's news. Just kidding!"

[firstcougar1]

12:40 AM on 08/09/2011

Great point - fanned

[watcher2020]

12:47 PM on 08/08/2011

uh uh.

[Nell608]

12:44 PM on 08/08/2011

Mighty peculiar - 2 of the Foxy boys playing April Fools jokes on a midsummer show! What other tricks do they have up their sleeves? And what does Papa Fox have to say about kits who misbehave?

[PunDyt]

02:58 PM on 08/08/2011

these two are as buffoonish as sp is anyway

[DrObvious]

12:37 PM on 08/08/2011

cover their candor with implausible denials that they were serious?

How News Corp of them.