Shep Smith of Fox News Apologizes for Calling Robin Williams a 'Coward'

Pump the brakes, Shep Smith. That man's a national treasure.

Fox News anchor Shepard Smith followed up a heartfelt tribute to the recently departed Robin Williams on his show yesterday with a rant about suicide, effectively calling Williams a coward for ending his own life after a decades-long struggle with depression.

"It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it? You could love three little things so much, watch them grow, they’re in their mid-20s, and they’re inspiring you, and exciting you, and they fill you up with the kind of joy you could never have known," Smith said, speaking of Williams' children. "And yet, something inside you is so horrible or you’re such a coward or whatever the reason that you decide that you have to end it. Robin Williams, at 63, did that today."

Naturally, this caused a bit of an outrage among fans of the actor and advocates for suicide prevention alike, who note that suicide is most often the result of a psychological disease like depression. Smith very quickly apologized in an interview with Mediaite.

"I would never presume to know anything about his private life. And if any of his family members and friends were to have seen me use the word ‘coward,’ I would be horrified," said a contrite Smith.

"I would just [want] to apologize to the end of the earth to anyone who might think that I meant to openly call him a coward," he continued. "To the core of my being, I regret it. It just came out of my mouth. And I’m so sorry. And to anyone and their families who see that, I am sorry."