Tucker Carlson is taking several days off from hosting his Fox News prime time show.
The 8 p.m. Fox News host announced at the end of Wednesday’s broadcast that he’s “headed to the wilderness to fish with my son.”
He added: “Politics is important, fishing with your son, sometimes more important. So I’m doing it.”
Carlson will be back on Aug. 19.
The announcement came one night after he claimed on his broadcast that white supremacy is “not a real problem in America,” and also claimed that it a “hoax” that’s being used to divide people.
Hosts on rival cable news networks spent a chunk of their respective shows Wednesday discussing Carlson’s remarks and criticizing them.
Carlson responded to those critics before Wednesday’s broadcast, telling them to “calm down…please, for the sake of the nation.”
There’s been a tremendous response to last night’s show. The left wants to silence us. They won’t. Here’s a portion of our response from tonight’s show. Watch this video and watch #FoxNews at 8pm ET for more. pic.twitter.com/bMRdIeC33b
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 7, 2019
“This a time of frustration, and it’s a time of change. It’s a hard time for America. But this country is not on the brink of genocide, it’s not even close to that,” Carlson said. “This is not a white supremacist country plotting the slaughter of its own people, it’s a kind country full of decent people of all races.”
“Going forward, give them the benefit of the doubt, even when you disagree with them,” he added. “And remember, the alternative is disaster.”
The network says Carlson’s vacation was planned far in advance, and that he will be back.
Other opinion hosts have gone on vacation after making controversial statements that drew condemnation from rival networks, progressive activists and the general public: Sean Hannity in May 2017, when the family of slain DNC staffer Seth Rich called for the host to “stop politicizing our son’s death.” Outcry influenced a number of Hannity’s advertisers, including cars.com, to suspend their ad buys on his program temporarily. Laura Ingraham in April 2018 took a vacation after getting involved in a public feud with gun control advocate David Hogg, who called for an ad boycott of her show.
Then, in April 2017, there was the permanent vacation from Fox News for Bill O’Reilly, who left the network after it had been reported by the New York Times that he had settled five sexual harassment lawsuits for $13 million dollars. O’Reilly’s departure was preceded by a massive advertiser boycott and spurred two public protests in the past week outside Fox News headquarters.