Paris mayor plans to sue Fox News over reports of Muslim 'no-go zones'

The mayor of Paris says she intends to sue Fox News over reports aired on the cable channel in the days following the Charlie Hebdo massacre suggesting there are Muslim “no-go zones” in the French capital.

"The image of Paris has been prejudiced," Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday. "And the honor of Paris has been prejudiced."

“We empathize with the citizens of France as they go through a healing process and return to everyday life," Michael Clemente, executive vice president of news at Fox News, responded in a statement to Politico. "However, we find the mayor’s comments regarding a lawsuit misplaced."

On Saturday, Fox News' Jeanine Pirro apologized for the assertion made by Islamic terrorism "expert" Steve Emerson claiming that there are "no-go" zones throughout Europe and, specifically, the city of Birmingham in the U.K.

“They’re sort of amorphous, they’re not contiguous necessarily, but they’re sort of safe havens,” Emerson said on Jan. 11. “And they’re places where the governments, like France, Britain, Sweden, Germany — they don’t exercise any sovereignty, so you basically have zones where Sharia courts are set up, where Muslim density is very intense, where police don’t go in."

"The guest asserted that the city of Birmingham, England, is totally Muslim, and that it is a place where non-Muslims don't go," Pirro said Sunday. "Both are incorrect."

Fox News anchor Julie Banderas issued a similar apology.

“Over the course of this last week, we have made some regrettable errors on air regarding the Muslim population in Europe — particularly with regard to England and France,” Banderas said. “To be clear, there is no formal designation of these zones in either country ... and no credible information to support the assertion that there are specific areas in these countries that exclude individuals based solely on their religion.”

The network's coverage was widely mocked on Twitter, where users invoked the hashtag #FoxNewsFacts.

Emerson himself later issued an apology on his website:

Those apologies were apparently not enough to stop Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who waded into the controversy during a speech in London.

In his address to the Henry Jackson Society, a British think tank, Jindal said immigrant Muslims are seeking "to colonize Western countries, because setting up your own enclave and demanding recognition of a no-go zone are exactly that," according to his prepared remarks.

Later, Jindal doubled down on the "no-go zone" talk.

"I knew that by speaking the truth we were going to make people upset," Jindal told CNN after his speech. "The huge issue, the big issue in nonassimilation is the fact that you have people that want to come to our country but not adopt our values, not adopt our language and in some cases, want to set apart their own enclaves and hold onto their own values. I think that's dangerous."

Jindal, whose parents immigrated to the United States from India, converted from Hinduism to Catholicism as a child.

When pressed for evidence of the "no-go zones," the Republican governor and possible presidential candidate pointed to an article in The Daily Mail, saying he had heard from "folks here" that "there are neighborhoods where women don't feel comfortable going in without veils [and] where police are less likely to go."

"I've lived here a long time," CNN correspondent Max Foster replied. "I don't know of any no-go zones for non-Muslims."

"The radical left absolutely wants to pretend like this problem's not here," Jindal responded.