A Fox News host has been mocked online after saying John Lennon 'wouldn’t be safe' in New York City.

But Brian Kilmeade,  alluding to the Geoge Floyd riots, seemed to forget that the Beatles legend was famously shot dead outside his New York apartment by Mark David Chapman in 1980. 

His comments came after New York City mayor Bill de Blasio said on Wednesday that he had been thinking about the lyrics to Lennon’s song ‘Imagine’ as protesters filled the streets following the death of Floyd. 

Kilmeade said a day later on live TV: “John Lennon wouldn’t be safe in this city right now. He’d be hiding in his apartment.”

As a result of his comments the 56 year-old 'Fox and Friends' anchor has been widely mocked on Twitter.

One user said: “Does he know what happened to John Lennon? He does...right?”

Another wrote: “Dude has like fifty pages of the Lennon biography left and he is in for a huge surprise."

Someone else said: “I thought it would be impossible to make me laugh out loud at the assassination of John Lennon - but I stand corrected.”

Tensions across America continue to mount after Floyd, a 46 year-old unarmed black man, was killed after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes.