Fact Check

Sarah Palin: Eskimos and Other Foreigners

Did Sarah Palin tell Sean Hannity that Alaska has many 'Eskimos and other foreigners?'

Published Dec. 1, 2014

Claim:

Claim:   Sarah Palin told Sean Hannity Alaska has "all sorts of Eskimos and other foreigners."


FALSE


Example:   [Collected via e-mail, December 2014]


Sarah Palin is being quoted on the internet as having appeared on the Hannity program on Fox on 11/14/14 and said "I understand what it's like to deal with illegals aliens, Sean. People forget that up here in Alaska we have all sorts of Eskimos and other foreigners." Did she actually say this?

 

Origins:   On 28 November 2014, a Facebook group posted an image of Sarah Palin that included a quote she had supposedly uttered during an appearance on Sean Hannity's show Hannity on 19 November 2014.

In a context unreferenced by the image, but presumably centering on the then-current debate about immigration, Palin was quoted as saying:



I understand what it's like to deal with illegals aliens, Sean. People forget that up here in Alaska we have all sorts of Eskimos and other foreigners.

At about the same time, the page in question also published an image of Michele Bachmann, along with made-up quote attributed to her, from a purported CNN appearance on 27 November 2014:



This Thanksgiving we remember the pilgrims and how they welcomed and fed and tamed the Red Indians.

The image and quote credited to Palin closely resembled spurious prior claims she demanded President Obama invade Ebola or send immigrants on a boat across the "Mexican Ocean." (The latter was also attributed to an Hannity program broadcast from 19 November 2014.)

Fabricated Sarah Palin quotes often originate with satire sites, but it does not appear these particular memes resulted from fake news stories. Nevertheless, not only did Palin not make the "Eskimos and other foreigners" comment, she did not even appear on Hannity on 19 November 2014.

Last updated:   1 December 2014

David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.