Is Fox News OK With Tucker Carlson Calling Women ‘Very Primitive’ and ‘Like Dogs’?
It’s not really breaking news when Fox News host Tucker Carlson says something offensive. In fact, Tucker loves playing the role of the politically incorrect man. He “tells it like it is,” you see.
That’s how he kept his job at Fox after saying immigrants make the country “poorer” and “dirtier.” He may have lost dozens of advertisers for his 8 o’clock show, but his employer seemed confident the others (including Ford, Capital One, and AstraZeneca) would remain.
On March 10, after Media Matters for America (MMFA) unearthed clips of Tucker saying more offensive, misogynistic things, it made you wonder how far Fox was willing to go with Tucker.
After all, saying women are “very primitive” and comparing them to dogs seems to cross a few lines (even for Tucker and Fox). The same goes for Tucker defending child rapists. However, at press time, Tucker was still gainfully employed at the embattled cable network.
Tucker said a boatload of awful things on ‘Bubba the Love Sponge.’
For someone who frequently calls people “dumb” on his show, Tucker spent so much time the last decade calling into the Bubba the Love Sponge show. That’s where he told shock-jock Bubba and his co-hosts how he feels about marrying 15-year-olds, and women in general.
After combing through the archives, MMFA’s Madeline Peltz found many remarkable comments. In one segment, even Bubba seemed shocked as Tucker tried to put marriage to underage children in context.
“I just don’t think it’s the same thing exactly as pulling a child from a bus stop and sexually assaulting that child,” Tucker said. ” The rapist, in this case, has made a lifelong commitment to live and take care of the person, so it is a little different.”
“You know, all too often, [Charles] Manson thinks that you’re a god,” Bubba responded. “But he’s disgusted by you today. He really is.” (When you let down both Bubba the Love Sponge and Charles Manson in the same breath, we imagine some people are disappointed.)
But Tucker had many such days with Bubba. In 2007, he said Oprah Winfrey “hate[s] the penis” and is generally “anti-man.” Speaking about the two sexes, Tucker offered many more opinions about women, often using the c-word.
“If you’re talking to a feminist, and she’s giving you, ‘Well, men really need to be more sensitive,’ [say] no. Actually, men don’t need to be more sensitive,” Tucker said in 2006. “You just need to be quiet and kind of do what you’re told.”
In 2007, he told Bubba and the guys how women “hate weakness. They’re like dogs that way.” Moments later, he finished the thought. “I mean, I love women, but they’re extremely primitive,” Tucker said. “They’re basic. They’re not that hard to understand.”
Tucker showed no remorse. Neither has Fox News.
If you thought Tucker would apologize for these comments, well, you don’t know the man. Hours after MMFA posted the transcripts, Tucker offered a statement saying people should come on his show and discuss why they disagree with him.
As for Fox News, the network merely referred journalists to Tucker’s statement when asked for comment. Few media watchdogs expressed surprise over that. In the Washington Post, Erik Wemple described the comments as “in character” for Tucker and said Fox “couldn’t care less.”
But it had been a busy week at the network. After Jane Mayer quoted conservatives describing the network as “propaganda,” Jeanine Pirro said Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s Muslim faith was basically “antithetical to the U.S. Constitution.”
The network “condemned” Pirro’s remarks late Sunday. However, she still works at Fox News. In Tucker’s case, we didn’t even get the condemnation part.
From what we understand, Tucker will return tonight at his regularly scheduled time. Don’t expect an apology.
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