'potential to animate violence'
Anti-Defamation League begs Fox News not to air Tucker Carlson's Jan. 6 documentary
The Anti-Defamation League is begging Fox to scrap a Tucker Carlson documentary about the Jan. 6 riot, warning it could direct "harm toward our public officials."
ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt in a letter to Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch expressed "deep alarm" over plans to air a new documentary on Fox Nation about the Jan. 6 pro-Trump riot, per Variety. A trailer for the documentary released this week included a clip of an interviewee baselessly suggesting the riot was a "false flag" operation, while another claims the left is "hunting the right" and "sticking them in Guantanamo Bay."
"Let's call this what it is: an abject, indisputable lie and a blatant attempt to rewrite history," Greenblatt wrote. "As an organization committed to fighting antisemitism and all forms of hate, we remain deeply concerned that the false narrative and wild conspiracy theories presented by Carlson will sow further division and has the potential to animate violence."
Greenblatt said that by airing the documentary, Fox will be "giving license to yet another conspiracy theory," this time the false notion that the riot was an "inside job," and he asked, "Where is the line for you and Fox? How many more people need to die or how many more individuals must subscribe to groundless conspiracies before you say enough is enough?" The ADL head also argues Fox has a "moral responsibility not to" continuing giving Carlson airtime and argues his documentary "has the potential to fuel misdirected anger and unrest, let alone harm toward our public officials and elected leaders precisely at the time when our nation needs to start to heal."
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) previously called out Fox for giving Carlson a "platform to spread the same type of lies that provoked violence on January" with this documentary, while Fox correspondent Geraldo Rivera dismissed its "false flag" claim as "bulls---."