Next week, Tucker Carlson is debuting “Patriot Purge,” which he describes as a three-part documentary about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that, based on the trailer alone, is filled with lies and conspiracy theories about what happened that day. And the Anti-Defamation League is calling on Fox News to cancel it.
Among other things, the trailer suggests that Carlson will spend considerable time treating the false claim that the riot, an attempt by supporters of Donald Trump to prevent the certification of the 2020 election results, was actually a “false flag” operation designed to make conservatives look bad.
“Let’s call this what it is: an abject, indisputable lie, and a blatant attempt to rewrite history,” ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan A. Greenblatt said in a letter addressed to Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch and made public Thursday night. Greenblatt expressed alarm that the “false narrative and wild conspiracy theories” presented in “Patriot Purge” could “sow further division” and possibly “animate violence.”
“You are giving license to yet another conspiracy theory,” the letter said. “That January 6th was an inside job with the intention of rounding up and imprisoning conservatives.”
“I have to ask: Where is the line for you and Fox?” Greenblatt asked of Murdoch. “How many more people need to die, or how many more individuals must subscribe to groundless conspiracies before you say enough is enough?”
Five people died either shortly before, during or following the riot: one was shot by Capitol Police, another died of a drug overdose, and three succumbed to natural causes. Scores of people were injured, including 138 police officers. Four officers who responded to the attack died by suicide within seven months.
“Clearly Carlson has the right to make outrageous claims — but freedom of speech is not freedom of reach,” Greenblatt said. “You have no obligation to validate his views with airtime on your platform, and I would argue a moral responsibility not to do so.”
A rep for Fox News had no comment about the ADL’s complaint but noted that “Patriot Purge,” which Carlson has plugged on his primetime Fox News show, would stream on the Fox Nation subscription service.
Read the ADL’s full letter below: