The footage of an unaired segment of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” where host Tucker Carlson calls Dutch historian Rutger Bregman “f—ing annoying” has been leaked. The satellite studio footage, which was obtained by NowThisNews, shows the Fox News host losing his temper after Bregman accused him of taking dirty money from conservative billionaires including Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers.
Last Wednesday, Bregman accused Carlson of swearing at him during the pre-recorded interview for the show that the network had chosen not to air.
“So @TuckerCarlson just called me a ‘f–ing moron’ during a prerecord for his show, for pointing out that he’s a millionaire funded by billionaires. Let’s see if they’ll air it,” Bregman said in a tweet.
“Why don’t you go f— yourself, you tiny brain,” Carlson can be heard saying to Bregman in the footage, “and I hope this gets picked up because you’re a moron. I tried to give you a hearing but you were too f—ing annoying.”
Bregman also said at the time that he had recorded the entire interview, but gave no indication of plans for if and how he might release it. Bregman, the author of several books, also said he received an email from Carlson after the interview that additionally called him “a-hole.”
“I loved what you said at Davos, so I had high hopes for our interview,” it read, according to Bregman. “But you turned out to be dumber, more dogmatic and less impressive. You’re [a] professional academic, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but it was still disappointing. Also, for what it’s worth, you’re an a-hole.”
Bregman posted the NowThis footage to his Twitter account on Wednesday.
“Here’s the interview that @TuckerCarlson and Fox News didn’t want you to see. I chose to release it, because I think we should keep talking about the corrupting influence of money and politics,” Bregman wrote.
On Wednesday evening, Carlson apologized for his use of foul language, but he defend his reaction as “entirely accurate.”
“I did what I try hard never to do on this show, and I was rude,” Carlson said in a taped video shared to Fox News’s website. “There is some profanity, and I apologize for that. On the other hand, it was genuinely heartfelt. I meant it with total sincerity.”
Watch the leaked interview in the video above.