Fox News host Tucker Carlson used some of last night’s broadcast to address a viral video published Wednesday by NowThis which shows him swearing at a guest and calling him a moron during a segment that ended up not airing on his show in early February.
It seems to have been secretly recorded by Dutch historian Rutger Bregman or someone who was with him for the interview with Carlson in early February.
“I did what I try hard never to do on this show and I was rude,” Carlson said on the broadcast last night. “I called him a moron and then I modified that word with a vulgar Anglo-Saxon term that is also intelligible in Dutch.”
He added: “In my defense, I would say that that was entirely accurate but you’re not allowed to use that word on television,” adding that was why the segment did not air.
He also said: “Whatever my faults or those of this channel, nobody in management has ever told us what positions to take on the air. Never. Not one time. We have total freedom here and we’re grateful for that.” Later adding, “It was genuinely heartfelt,” Carlson said. “I meant it with total sincerity.”
As of publication time, the video of Carlson swearing at the guest has been viewed more than 7 million times.
Bregman was invited on Carlson’s program after he appeared on a panel during Davos, and said to the crowd of wealthy attendees that the rich should pay more in taxes.
After talking about tax policy, Carlson and Bregman’s conversation took a sharp turn and things got intense.
Bregman argued that most people believe that the rich should be taxed more and the only reason that issue wasn’t talked about more on Fox News Channel was because its network and its anchors, were “bought by the billionaire class.” (presumably Rupert Murdoch).
Bregman accused Carlson of taking “their dirty money” and called him a “millionaire funded by billionaires.” Bregman also said FNC and Carlson’s program was actually “part of the problem.”
Needless to say, Carlson didn’t take too kindly to that.
Below is the video of Carlson going off.
WATCH:
Watch Fox News host Tucker Carlson call one of his guests a ‘tiny brain…moron’ during an interview. NowThis has obtained the full segment with historian Rutger Bregman that Fox News is refusing to air. pic.twitter.com/kERYPUaGLY
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 20, 2019
And the clip of him speaking about that the video on Tucker Carlson Tonight yesterday:
WATCH:
The Young Turks’ Cenk Uygur –not exactly known for his pro-Fox views– was among the personalities who voiced at least mild support for Carlson. He pointed out that the recording came from Bregman and said that Carlson was initially complimentary and seemed excited to have Bregman as a guest since he liked two out of the three topics the historian brought up in Davos.
“Tucker did want to talk about tax avoidance and I think he was legit on that and they never really quite got to it,” Uygur said, due to the conflict in the interview, adding that the conflict came from Bregman bringing up tax increase.
Uygur argued that Bregman was invited on his show because of genuine interest from the Fox News host, “Carlson’s not a robot and for the first time in his life he’s interesting so that’s why there’s a little bit of irony here.”