U.S. President Barack Obama shed tears live on television on Tuesday when he unveiled his executive actions on gun control.
Recalling the December 2012 school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut where 20 schoolchildren were slaughtered by a gunman, a tearful Obama said, "Every time I think about those kids, it gets me mad," adding, "and by the way, it happens on the streets of Chicago every day."
After his speech, however, prominent conservatives mocked him for displaying his emotions about the tragedy and suggested they weren't authentic, the Huffington Post reported.
Fox News Radio's Todd Starnes noted something unusual—Obama wiped his tears away using his middle finger.
Other media personalities said it was evident that Obama was just faking his emotions for the cameras to appear dramatic.
On Fox News' "Outnumbered," host Andrea Tantaros said there must have been raw onion on the president's lectern to induce him to shed tears.
"It's not really believable. And the award goes to... we are in awards season," Tantaros said.
Co-host Meghan McCain—daughter of Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona)—said the same thing: "It just didn't seem horribly authentic. And maybe it is; I don't know him at all," McCain said. "Go to your hometown of Chicago instead of talking about God-fearing Americans when ISIS is coming to their hometown."
The president's emotional reaction while speaking about gun violence in Chicago also irked co-host Melissa Francis.
"What was really upsetting was the tears that he wiped away again and again," Francis said. "You want that for — I mean, we feel frighten about what's going on with ISIS. And he can't pull that kind of passion for anything about this," according to Rawstory.
"I feel bad about those kids in [Newtown,] Connecticut," she added. "Your heart breaks for them. But it's only about this that he gets so upset about. And never about terror!"
As Fox News replayed a clip of Obama with tears flowing down his face, Tantaros said she didn't buy the emotion because "he would have spoken out a long time ago."
"This is how many years? Almost eight years, he's almost at the end of his term," she said. "And you haven't heard him go to Chicago and really speak out about this issue."
Francis said she could not understand how Obama could cry for the kids in Chicago but not the recent terror attacks in Paris.
"They say he's just cool, that's the way he is, that he doesn't get emotional," she said. "We haven't seen this in a very long time and it's about something that feels political, that feels somewhat insincere, that feels like it's not going to make a huge difference."
"It's like bad political theatre," McCain said.
