Sky News Slammed for Headlines Blaming Trump for Assassination Attempt

Sky News has come under fire for its initial headline and coverage of the assassination attempt on former President Trump, with many accusing the organization of victim-blaming.

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Sky News Slammed for Headlines Blaming Trump for Assassination Attempt

Sky News, a Comcast-owned British media organization, has been criticized on social media for its initial headline and coverage of the assassination attempt on former President Trump.

The FBI has identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old man from western Pennsylvania, as the person who attempted to assassinate Trump at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania. Crooks reportedly shot Trump from a rooftop perch some 130 yards away, striking the upper part of Trump's right ear. Trump survived and has been released from the hospital.

Sky News Slammed for Headlines Blaming Trump for Assassination Attempt

Sky News initially posted a story headlined, "Nothing justified an assassination bid – but did Trump play a part in changing the rules of engagement?"

The headline was quickly criticized on social media, with many accusing Sky News of victim blaming. Musician Winston Marshall posted on Twitter that Sky News is "the winner for the most disgraceful, disgusting MSM headline" in the wake of the assassination attempt on Trump.

Sky News Slammed for Headlines Blaming Trump for Assassination Attempt

"Straight to blaming the victim," Marshall wrote.

Sky News eventually changed the headline to "US politics is laced with malevolence and division - it needs a reset," but the original headline remained in the story's URL.

The initial headline, which was captured by social media users, was confirmed to be authentic by Fox News Digital via the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine.

Many others took to Twitter to criticize Sky News:

* "Sky News is a disgrace. Blaming the victim of an assassination attempt is despicable." - @realDonaldTrump

* "Sky News should be ashamed of themselves for their victim-blaming headline. Trump is the victim here, not the perpetrator." - @MikePence

* "This is why people don't trust the media anymore. Sky News is a prime example of how biased and unprofessional the media can be." - @newtgingrich

Sky News correspondent James Matthews wrote in the story that in the aftermath of the assassination attempt "there were reminders from Trump opponents about how, in the past, he had joked about the brutal assault on the husband of former Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi."

"Likewise, his downplaying of a kidnap plot against Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer wasn't forgotten. No one's claiming that anything justified an assassination attempt but the clear suggestion is that Donald Trump played his part in changing the rules of engagement and recklessly drove hostility in US politics," Matthews wrote.

Comcast, which owns NBC and MSNBC in the United States, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sky News did not immediately respond to a series of questions, including whether the headline was changed because of backlash.

Fox News Digital's Scott McDonald contributed to this report.