Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson responded to lead writer Blake Neff’s resignation Monday night, saying the racist and misogynistic comments Neff made on an online forum were “incorrect,” but added that the writer had paid a “very high price”.
Carlson also said he was taking a “long-planned vacation.” She did not say it was related to Neff’s resignation, which was announced last week after a CNN investigation found that she had written on the online forum under a pseudonym for years.
A post, from June 5, said: “The black stuff that stays inside playing Call of Duty is probably one of the most important factors that keeps crime low.”
Neff also kept a thread for five years that contained sexist comments towards a woman and included personal details.
Carlson, the most-watched cable news anchor in U.S. history, often sparks backlash with on-screen protests against migrants and liberals, a controversy he uses as fuel for new tirades.
Donald Trump is a committed viewer, and there are rumors among Republicans that the presenter could use his popularity to mount a presidential race in 2024.
In a recent interview with the University of Dartmouth alumni magazine, Neff, who started writing for Carlson shortly after the presenter’s Fox News program launched in November 2016, said: “Anything [Carlson’s] reading the teleprompter, I write the first draft.
He had “got used to what [Carlson] he likes it and what he thinks about, ”he said.
While Fox News leaders denounced Neff’s online posts, Carlson did not comment until Monday night.
“Blake was horrified by the [CNN] story, and he was embarrassed, “he said.” What Blake wrote anonymously was wrong. We don’t endorse those words. They have no connection to the show. It’s wrong to attack people for qualities they can’t control. “
Neff has “paid a very high price,” Carlson said. But he quickly turned to what appeared to be a message against “canceling the culture,” complaining that “the demons were now pounding themselves on the chest, triumphing over the destruction of a young man.”
“When we pretend to be holy, we are lying,” said Carlson. “When we present ourselves as blameless to hurt other people, we are committing the most serious sin of all and we will be punished for it, there is no doubt.”
Carlson later announced that he would be off the air for the rest of the week, for a “long-planned” vacation.
Fox News hosts are known to take timely “vacations” when controversies arise and advertisers withdraw.
Last August, Carlson announced a vacation after causing a rift with advertisers by calling white supremacy a “hoax” and a “conspiracy theory.” She recently lost big names because of comments about Black Lives Matter protesters.
In similar cases, host Bill O’Reilly took an “R&R” after the sexual harassment allegations were made public, while Sean Hannity went on vacation after propagating a conspiracy theory that the murder of an employee The Democratic National Committee was connected to an email hack.
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