Tucker Carlson, who refused to apologize on Sunday evening after old audio clips surfaced of the Fox News host making disparaging remarks about women and calling TV and radio personality Alexis Stewart “c–ty,” had a very different reaction to comedian Samantha Bee’s use of that word to describe first daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump.
During a May 31, 2018 airing of his “Tucker Carlson Tonight” program, Carlson called the word “actually degrading” and said he didn’t know of any man who would use such language. Carlson made the remarks during a monologue calling out Bee called Ivanka Trump a “feckless c—” on air on her weekly TBS show “Full Frontal.”
“That one word that [Bee] used. I don’t know any man who uses that word because it is kind of the one word that is actually degrading,” Carlson told radio host Tammy Bruce on his own show. “It’s the thing that feminists are always telling us. That word really is.”
“It reduces us to a vile terminology, to a part of our body and to the ultimate debasement of who we are as women,” Bruce added. “This transcends politics and party and everything else. This is about a loathing and hate. They have no ideas.”
Bruce also slammed the broader “misogyny” which she said “lives on the left” and attacked women such as actress Sally Field for coming to Bee’s defense.
But during call-in radio segments on “Bubba the Love Sponge Show” between 2006 and 2011 unearthed by the liberal watchdog group Media Matter for America, Carlson made a series of degrading comments about statutory rape and women such as Martha Stewart’s daughter, Alexis.
“She seems extremely c–ty,” Carlson told Bubba about Alexis Stewart on air in 2006. “She just does seem a little c–ty.”
After saying that he heard Bubba producer Brent Hatley interview Alexis Stewart, Carlson added, “I heard her on with him and I just wanted to give her the spanking she so desperately needs. … She seems so high-maintenance, she seems like the kind of person you marry and then just the rest of your life is like hell.”
On Sunday evening, Carlson released a statement in which he conceded to using “naughty” language during past radio appearances but declined to apologize and said that anyone who was truly aggrieved by any of his positions was welcome to come on set.
“Media Matters caught me saying something naughty on a radio show more than a decade ago,” Carlson said, sidestepping the fact that some of the highlighted comments occurred as recently as 2011. “Rather than express the usual ritual contrition, how about this: I’m on television every weeknight live for an hour. If you want to know what I think, you can watch. Anyone who disagrees with my views is welcome to come on and explain why.”
The audio, which Media Matters released Sunday evening, was taken during a period between 2006 and 2011 and documents Carlson’s long history of calling into the Florida radio show of shock jock Bubba The Love Sponge.
Media Matters has a long history of targeting Fox News hosts and personalities with damaging releases like the Carlson tapes and in the past has also led advertiser boycotts against the channel. In recent months Carlson has lost more than two dozen sponsors after he accused illegal immigrants of making the United States a “poorer” and “dirtier” country.
In multiple past statements, Fox News has vowed to continued to stand behind the embattled host.
Media Matters chief Angelo Carusone had no comment on any new boycott plans against Carlson or Fox News. A rep for Fox News had no comment beyond Carlson’s earlier statement.
Watch the video of Carlson’s old segment on Samantha Bee above.