WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 (UPI) — Representatives of the Black Lives Matter movement fired back at Fox & Friends anchor Elisabeth Hasselbeck on Thursday for suggesting the activists be labeled a “hate group” during an interview.

“Those responsible for these distortions are not actual journalists,” said the statement, posted to the Black Lives Matter Facebook page.. “They are TV personalities sensationalizing tragedy to further their own agenda at the cost of reason, justice, and democratic rights of black people everywhere to demand an end to police violence and mass incarceration.”

Monday’s Fox & Friends show centered around the shooting of Texas Deputy Darren Goforth and a Minnesota Black Lives Matter demonstration during which activists chanted “Pigs in a blanket, fry them like bacon,” referring to police.

“Why has the Black Lives Matter movement not been classified yet as a hate group?” Hasselbeck,
the conservative former host of The View asked Black Sphere’s Kevin Jackson. “I mean, how much more has to go in this direction before someone actually labels it as such?”

Jackson responded that the movement should be labeled a hate group but will not be because it is “being financed by leftists.”

The movement’s statement said it’s the opposite of a hate group.

“The Black Lives Matter Network is a love group,” the statement said. “We seek a world which ALL black lives matter, and racial hierarchy no longer organizes our lives or yours. This is a vision of love. As black survivors of white supremacy, our hearts go out to all victims of violence.”

Hasselbeck’s former co-host Rosie O’Donnell entered a heated Twitter exchange regarding the controversial interview. “Some r slow 2 wake,” O’Donnell tweeted Monday.

“My question was NOT my opinion it was for my guest & was @ the St Paul group (NOT entire BLM) calling for cops to be ‘fried like bacon’” Hasselback retorted.

Jackson also entered the Twitter feud, maintaining his stance against Black Lives Matter, calling it a “disgrace to black people.”

“Sick of Liberals meddling with black ppl,” Jackson tweeted Wednesday.

The Black Lives Matter social movement gained momentum shortly after Darren Wilson was not charged in the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri. The social movement has since gained momentum after other police clashes with unarmed African Americans.