Tucker Carlson Fires Back After Media Matters Digs Up Controversial Audio Clips
Fox News host Tucker Carlson said he would not be showing the “usual ritual contrition” after a left-leaning group dug up what it described as “misogynistic and perverted” comments Carlson made on a shock jock radio program between 2006 and 2010.
Media Matters for America released a compilation of clips of Carlson calling into the “Bubba and the Love Sponge” radio show.
During a segment in 2006, Carlson said “what really gets women going,” seeming to imply sexually, “is arguing with them.”
“You debate politics with a woman and just go,” he explained. “Just full-blown out there, especially feminism. If you’re talking to a feminist, and she’s given you, ‘Well, men really need to be more sensitive,’ [say] no, actually, men don’t need to be more sensitive. You just need to be quiet and kind of do what you’re told.
“They love it. They love it.”
During another appearance on the show, he called felony rape charges being brought against cult leader Warren Jeffs at the time “bulls—.”
“He’s not accused of touching anybody; he is accused of facilitating a marriage between a 16-year-old girl and a 27-year-old man. That’s the accusation,” Carlson recounted. “That’s what they’re calling felony rape. That’s bulls—.”
Carlson continued, “I’m sorry. Now this guy may be a child rapist. I’m just telling you that arranging a marriage between a 16-year-old and a 27-year-old is not the same as pulling a stranger off the street and raping her.”
In other segments, “He referred to Martha Stewart’s daughter Alexis Stewart as ‘cunty,’ called journalist Arianna Huffington a ‘pig,’ and labeled Britney Spears and Paris Hilton ‘the biggest white whores in America,'” according to Media Matters.
Carlson hosted a nightly program “Tucker” on MSNBC from 2005 to 2008, and became a Fox News Channel contributor in May 2009. He began hosting “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on FNC in late 2016.
The commentator responded with a statement on Twitter on Sunday, writing, “Media Matters caught me saying something naughty on a radio show more than a decade ago. Rather than express the usual ritual contrition, how about this: I’m on television every weeknight for more than an hour.
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) March 11, 2019
“If you want to know what I think, you can watch. Anyone who disagrees with my views is welcome to come on and explain why.”
MMFA Communications Director Laura Keiter said in a statement, “Anyone remotely familiar with Tucker Carlson won’t be surprised by the misogyny. But what’s striking about these clips is that it comes off as so natural and normal for him; it’s like you’re getting a chance to see who Tucker Carlson really is and what those ideas really mean. The clips provide insight into the misogyny of his current Fox News show.”
The Media Matters’ hit against Carlson comes the same week Fox News is holding a big event for advertisers to promote its brand, according to CNN.
Variety reported FNC planned to highlight that while the network’s opinion programming such as Carlson’s show draws large numbers of viewers, two-thirds of Fox’s daily audience tunes in for the news division’s programs like “America’s Newsroom,” “Special Report” with anchor Bret Baier and “The Story” with Martha MacCallum.
Multiple media outlets targeted Fox News last week, alleging the network does not provide fair coverage and is in the tank for President Donald Trump.
The topic came to the fore with the Wednesday announcement by Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez that his party will hold none of its primary debates on Fox, justifying the decision, in part, based on a lengthy piece in The New Yorker, which called the network “Trump TV.”
“I believe that a key pathway to victory is to continue to expand our electorate and reach all voters,” Perez said in a statement to The Washington Post.
“That is why I have made it a priority to talk to a broad array of potential media partners, including Fox News,” he continued. “Recent reporting in The New Yorker on the inappropriate relationship between President Trump, his administration and Fox News has led me to conclude that the network is not in a position to host a fair and neutral debate for our candidates.”
Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan affirmed The New Yorker’s assessment in an Op-Ed titled, “It’s time — high time — to take Fox News’s destructive role in America seriously.”
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
