Fox News host Tucker Carlson has decided not to apologize for offensive comments he made during old radio interviews.
Carlson in a tweet Sunday said he had been "caught" saying "something naughty on a radio show more than a decade ago," and that he is refusing to "express the usual ritual contrition." Instead, he plugged his Fox News show, saying anyone who wants to know what he thinks can watch it.
Media Matters for America over the weekend resurfaced a variety of old interviews with Carlson, during which he defended a man, Warren Jeffs, who was convicted over his arranging of illegal underage marriages. Carlson said "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" and that "the rapist, in this case, has made a lifelong commitment to live and take care of the person so it is a little different." Carlson suggested Jeffs had been imprisoned simply because "he has a different lifestyle."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Carlson also suggested that a woman who molested a 13-year-old was "doing a service." And in other appearances, he said women are "extremely primitive," referred to one woman using the C-word, another as a "pig," and others as "whores" and "unattractive."
Carlson's old comments, which were made between 2006 and 2011, sparked outrage on social media, with some calling for another advertiser boycott. His show already lost some advertisers earlier this year after controversial comments he made about immigration.
This was just one of two Fox News controversies from the weekend; host Jeanine Pirro said that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) wearing a hijab is "indicative of her adherence to Sharia law." Fox News released a statement condemning Pirro's comments, but the network has not commented on Carlson's.
-
Will the public buy Rachel Reeves’ tax rises?Today’s Big Question The Chancellor refused to rule out tax increases in her televised address, and is set to reverse pledges made in the election manifesto
-
Margaret Atwood’s ‘deliciously naughty’ memoirIn the Spotlight ‘Bean-spilling’ book by The Handmaid’s Tale author is ‘immensely readable’
-
Being a school crossing guard has become a deadly jobUnder the Radar At least 230 crossing guards have been hit by cars over the last decade
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
