Tucker Carlson called white supremacy “a hoax” Tuesday night on his Fox News show, earning him immediate backlash across Twitter and on other networks.
“If you were to assemble a list — a hierarchy of concerns, of problems this country faces — where would white supremacy be on the list? Right up there with Russia, probably. It’s actually not a real problem in America,” Carlson said during a discussion of President Trump’s reaction to the two mass shootings that took place over the weekend, one of which came after a four-page anti-immigration screen was posted to 8chan, purportedly by the shooter.
“The combined membership of every white supremacist organization in this country would be able to fit inside a college football stadium,” he continued. “I mean seriously. This is a country where the average person is getting poorer. The suicide rate is spiking. ‘White supremacy — that’s the problem.’ This is a hoax. Just like the Russia hoax, it is a conspiracy theory used to divide the country and keep a hold on power. That is exactly what’s going on.”
As of Wednesday morning, Carlson was still trending nationally on Twitter, along with the hashtag #FireTuckerCarlson.” Some questioned if it was time for another advertiser boycott of his program.
CNN’s Don Lemon responded on his own primetime program three hours later. Carlson’s commentary aired at 8:12 p.m. ET. At 11:01, Lemon played it for his audience, then stared silently at the camera before laughing.
“Was that not the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard?” he asked.