Tucker Carlson hosts a show on Fox News that some have dubbed the ‘White Nationalist Hour’ because of the relentless race-baiting that he spouts. It says something about the Fox News audience that Carlson’s show has become the highest rated cable news show. But a couple of days ago, Blake Neff, the show’s top writer, was exposed as having posted racist, homophobic, and misogynistic messages on various social media sites under a pseudonym.
He has since resigned. On his show yesterday, after acknowledging what happened, Carlson made the following statement:
“Blake fell short of that standard, and he has paid a very heavy price for it. But we should also point out, to the ghouls now beating their chests in triumph of the destruction of a young man, that self-righteousness also has its costs. We are all human.”
This is classic right-wing whining about persecution. An adult anonymously writes terrible things on social media. When he is exposed, it is the people who exposed and criticized him who are called ‘ghouls’. What did Neff and Carlson expect? And what is the ‘very heavy price’ that Neff has paid? What was the ‘destruction’ that occurred? He was not executed. He was not sent to prison or to some re-education camp. He just lost his job which is wholly unsurprising because no decent company can be seen to employ someone who has such vile views. He knew this would happen which was why he was posting anonymously in the first place. Neff will find a home somewhere that openly welcomes his views, say as the communication director for the KKK.
At the end of his show yesterday, Carlson announced that he was going on a ‘long planned vacation’. Matt Gertze pointed out a curious coincidence about these planned vacations by Fox hosts:”Sending hosts who get in PR trouble on vacation is a classic Fox PR tactic, Carlson had one after calling white supremacy a hoax, Hannity amid the Seth Rick conspiracy theories, Ingraham after attacking David Hogg, etc.”
A "long-planned" vacation that just happens to start the day after he publicly explains that his head writer had to resign for bigoted comments, what are the odds! pic.twitter.com/JF9nBcUDPq
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) July 14, 2020
Also, who plans a a vacation to start on a Tuesday, after just coming back from a weekend?
Yeah, but this is Fox.
@ 1 sqlrob
That was exactly my thought.
Of course, Fox likes to portray itself as a decent company. Am thinking that dog-whistle-free race-baiting might put too great a strain on the illusion?
… self-righteousness also has its costs.
Words surely to be scripted in neon above the entrances to all Fox studios, and added to taglines in all internal corporate communications, to assist all on-air talent in remaining on the gentle path of thoughtful humility.