Will a monkeypox shot stop the danger from having sex with a horny stranger? Gutfeld said to introduce the topic on his June 30 show. He continued that it has mostly infected men who have had sex with other men at parties and, addressing fellow Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, added that the United States has not seen any deaths yet, but just to be safe, Kilmeade, no more sleepovers. Kilmeade is married to a woman; the joke here is that its funny to call him gay.

Gutfeld later asked Kilmeade, who hosts Fox & Friends, how the morning show was covering the issues.

Running from it, Kilmeade responded, before downplaying the symptoms and known number of cases. What is the big deal? Walk it off, were Americans.

The segment also included a pre-taped bit in which a monkey doctor addressed questions at a fake press conference, including one from a character with a stereotypical lisp who asked if the monkey would consider spending a sexual weekend with me in Cabo. Whether intentional or not, the segment drew on the long-standing homophobic idea that HIV/AIDS emerged because of gay men having sex with monkeys.

Back at the panel, Gutfeld teed up Donald Trump senior adviser Lara Trump to mock the subject.

You know, Lara, apparently monkeypox is spread by gay anonymous sex at raves, he said with an inflection that signaled he was saying something funny. What are your thoughts?

Well how long do we have? Trump said in a jokey, over-the-top response.

You know, we are the only show that has been consistently covering this topic almost every week, sometimes every day, even if there are 300 cases, because its just great to talk about, Gutfeld concluded.

The previous week, Gutfeld used almost the exact same homophobic set-up in a panel with Fox News host Emily Compagno.

All right, last question to you, Emily, monkeypox is caused by anonymous gay anal sex at raves, Gutfeld said. Care to comment?

Im OK on that one, Compagno dodged, highlighting her discomfort with the very idea for comedic effect.

Other conservatives comedians got in on the bit as well. At PJMedia, Kevin Downey Jr. wrote an entire blog about what he considers strange sexual practices among men who have sex with men and the spread of monkeypox, and how to address the outbreaks.

Just a hunch, but perhaps we can start by abstaining from group sex with gay men who recently romped around Antwerp dressed as dogs and horses, he wrote.

Much of the overt anti-gay panic among right-wing pundits took place on Twitter.

Right-wing pundit James Lindsay deployed homophobic innuendo to make a confusing point about government control:

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Conservatives' homophobia is putting gay and bisexual men at greater risk of monkeypox - Media Matters for America