Opinion: Fox News’ Host Tucker Carlson and Many Instances of Discourse

From the beginning of his career to the present day, Fox News host Tucker Carlson has displayed intolerance for diversity. His words include such as defaming one’s character, saying racist remarks and using homophobia as talking points for his show.

            The credibility of Carlson’s show has proven to be questionable and unreliable many times in the past, especially with one occurrence that had to be handled in court. According to a Business Insider article about the case, Fox News was sued for defamation of character by Karen McDougal in late Sept. 2020. Carlson had blatantly accused McDougal on his show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight”, for allegedly extorting former President Trump out of $150,000 as payment for her to remain quiet about their previous affair. McDougal’s case was eventually resolved in Fox News’ favor on the premise that Carlson’s show is not taken seriously by its “reasonable viewers.”

            Carlson also has an infamous history of several incidents using prejudiced comments and racist remarks. According to an article from the network MSNBC, Carlson had commented on the most recent Supreme Court election of Ketanji Jackson, a black woman. On his show, Carlson claimed that Jackson would turn the nation into the African country, Rwanda. He further stated that Jackson was ignorant of the law despite her eight years of experience as a federal district judge.

            According to a separate news article from the Guardian, Carlson claimed that Jackson was only nominated “because of how she looks.” In another instance, Carlson publicly supported the racist Great Replacement Theory. According to two articles from Media ITE and the Daily Beast, the theory assumes that the Democratic Party is attempting to replace white Americans with “Afghan refugees or dark-skinned immigrants.”

            Another major controversy of Carlson is his use of homophobia throughout his career. According to the news media site, Advocate, Carlson had gone on a 12-minute rant about United States Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. Buttigieg is one of the very few openly gay men in politics. Carlson constantly referred to Buttigieg as a child, belying Buttigieg’s credibility.

            “Joe Biden hired a kid,” Carlson stated on his show in late January 2022. “By contrast, who had never had a real job outside McKinsey and no grounding of any kind in physical reality,”

            Carlson is not only disrespectful to cis-gendered people but he disrespected the transgender community. According to an article from MediaMatters, Carlson had a trans woman come onto his show but he had other plans in mind instead of listening and learning from her.

“So I want to get exactly what this means; I’m a 47-year-old man, I think that’s pretty obvious,” said Carlson. “If I were to decide tomorrow if I were a 47-year-old woman, should I be allowed to go shower in a women’s locker room?”

            Carlson followed the remark by claiming that transgender people are faking their beliefs that they are trans. This interview was not only insensitive but it also encouraged transphobia in Carlson’s viewership. According to an Advocate News article, in another segment of his show, Carlson addressed the LGBTQ+ community’s new acronym, “LGGBDTTTIQQAAP.”

            “The point is, we are all bullied, we’re all afraid to ask honest questions, like what is this,” Carlson said on his show. “I mean, this is all made up,” he continued. “Nobody asked anybody, and now it’s imposed on the rest of us.”

            Carlson’s irresponsible actions have wreaked havoc across a slew of communities. He has lost most of his credibility and uses his platform to spew hatred toward others. From giving out ignorant remarks about the LGBTQ community to trying to discredit a woman because of her race, Carlson has proved that he and his show should be removed from Fox News’ media network.