“Fire Tucker Carlson Now” was trending on Twitter on Wednesday night and Thursday after the Fox News host apologized for Kenosha’s actions shooting suspect Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager accused of killing two people in a protest on Tuesday night.
“Are we really surprised that looting and arson accelerated to murder?” Carlson said during his show on Wednesday night. “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with guns decided they had to keep order like no one else would?”
Carlson’s words, which seem to rationalize or excuse Rittenhouse’s alleged actions, received widespread backlash on social media, with many asking Fox to fire Carlson.
“He just justified murder,” tweeted Nikole Hannah-Jones, creator of The New York Times’ 1619 Project, shares a clip from Carlson’s broadcast.
Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jamie Guttenberg died in the 2018 Parkland shooting, responded to Carlson on Twitter.
“My daughter was murdered by an 18 year old with an AR 15. Just walked to her school. Tucker, you love a fool who will kill people. I hope advertisers drop. [sic] you immediately today. You must be removed for the safety of our children. ” twitter Guttenberg.
Others also called on advertisers to pull ads from Carlson’s Fox News show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
“If they do not take action here, each of Fox News’ directors, directors and advertisers is embroiled in Tucker Carlson’s racist, murderous rants.” twittere Robert Reich, who served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration and is currently a professor at Berkeley.
Political podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen twitter a list from Carlson’s advertisers, tagging companies such as SurePayroll, Gabi Insurance, My Pillow and Grayscale. “You all just paid Tucker Carlson to defend a killer on air,” Cohen wrote in the tweet.
Earlier this year, companies like T-Mobile and Papa John’s Pizza pulled from ad placements on Carlson’s show after the host made dismissive remarks about the Black Lives Matters movement and warned his viewers that “they” will “come” for you.
Companies have canceled ads after controversial comments by other Fox News shows in the past. Laura Ingraham lost about 50% of the show’s on-air advertising time in 2018 when nearly 20 companies gave their advertising headlines in response to protests led by David Hogg, a 17-year-old Parkland student and anti-gun violence activist she mocked .
In a tweet on Wednesday, Gabi Insurance said it was intended to attract his advertisements. The company said it “stopped working with Tucker indefinitely months ago, but it looks like we were sent out recently. This will NOT happen again. We will take a stand with you.”
Gray value, a digital currency management company, said in a tweet Thursday: “It came to our attention that one of our ads went wrong yesterday with a TV show that is completely out of line with our values or what we stand for. We Investigate how this was broadcast outside the guidelines of our media buyers to ensure that it does not happen again. ”
It’s unclear if the program she was referring to was “Tucker Carlson Tonight”. CBS News has reached out to you and other companies advertising during the show for more information.
A SurePayroll spokesman told CBS News, “As of this morning, we have stopped our remains [for open commercial time] during the Tucker Carlson timeslot as we continue to evaluate our advertising strategy. “
“We support different points of view and encourage open dialogue,” SurePayroll said. “We do not support comments that condone or encourage violence of any kind. We work actively to ensure that our ad placements adapt to our mission and the values we live by every day.”
On his show Wednesday, Carlson played a clip of the shooter shooting at Protestants, saying a court will decide whether to act in self-defense. “We know why it all happened,” he continued. “Kenosha has disappeared in anarchy because the authorities responsible for the city have abandoned it. People in charge, from the governor of Wisconsin, refused to enforce the law. They stood back and saw that Kenosha was burning.”
In response to CBS News’ request for comment, Fox News pointed to a tweet by Carlson who quoted that part of his remarks, and provided the full transcript of the segment.
The protesters demonstrated during the shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man who was shot several times in the back by Kenosha police and is now paralyzed.
Mobile video made during the protests showed what appeared to be a white man with a semi-automatic rifle that opened fire on a group.
Kenosha police identified the two people killed only as a 26-year-old from Silver Lake, Wisconsin, and a 36-year-old from Kenosha. Police said one person was injured, a 36-year-old from West Allis, Wisconsin, who was expected to survive.
Police in Antioch, Illinois, announced Thursday that Kyle Rittenhouse was arrested on a warrant from Kenosha County, Wisconsin, and accused the youth of first-degree conspiracy.
He is due back in court on Friday for an extradition hearing.
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