Fox News host Greg Gutfeld sparked outrage after suggesting Savannah Guthrie take a lie detector test over her missing 84-year-old mother.
Gutfeld, 61, urged the Today host, 54, on Wednesday night’s The Five to “offer to do a polygraph” as authorities search for her mother, Nancy Guthrie, who vanished from her Tucson home on Jan. 31.
He claimed the move would put “necessary pressure” on people inside and outside her circle to follow suit.
Gutfeld defended the proposal by arguing that no one within the family’s inner circle has publicly been ruled out. A voluntary polygraph, he claimed, could help investigators identify any family members who say no to the test, which would look “unusual,“ thereby narrowing the field for police.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Gutfeld for comment.
After boldly pointing the finger at the Guthrie family, Gutfeld turned to his guest, Ret. NYPD Inspector Paul Mauro, and asked casually “What do you say to that?”
Mauro offered a caveat. Polygraphs, he noted, are “not admissible in court,” though they can serve as “a pointer” in investigations. Still, he did not dismiss Gutfeld’s framing outright, telling the host, “I get that. You’re trying to smoke people out that might be close to the situation.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Mauro for comment.
The exchange immediately lit up social media.
The account Decoding Fox News blasted the comments as “inappropriate,” accusing Gutfeld of joking about the details surrounding Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance. The posts argued that the host “came across as a child jealous that someone else was getting attention.”
Author Joyce Carol Oates weighed in with a pointed jab of her own, writing that it might be “fun to ask Fox News people including G. Gutfeld to take polygraphs to determine if they’re lying to Fox viewers.”
Other X users called the remarks “shameful,” with some demanding that Fox fire the host for what they viewed as attention-seeking remarks about a serious family in crisis.
Though not everyone agreed with the Gutfeld pile-on.
Executive director for the Women for America, Kylie Jane Kremer, sided with Gutfeld’s logic, arguing that “at the very least,” Savannah and her husband should submit to testing. She suggested an initial polygraph would “set the tone” for other relatives and said it would be “inappropriate” for the remaining siblings or in-laws to decline if asked.
Another conservative commentary account defended Gutfeld’s accusations on X, writing that the host implied what many others are already thinking—that a family polygraph is what the investigation needs.
Wednesday’s remarks wouldn’t be the first time Gutfeld turned his eyes towards Savannah to help make a break in the case. On Monday, he first floated the notion that a polygraph from the Guthrie’s could accelerate the case.
Authorities, for their part, have not indicated that any member of the Guthrie family is under suspicion. Eyes have remained focused on recently released Ring doorbell footage, showing a masked individual tampering with the surveillance camera at Nancy’s Tucson, Arizona home.
The case remains ongoing as investigators questioned a man identified as Carlos Palazuelos on Wednesday before releasing him without charges.
