Former Fox host Gretchen Carlson is joining the pile-on against her old network after its star opinion host Tucker Carlson predictably used exclusive access to security footage from January 6 to falsely depict the attack on Congress as a peaceful protest.
Ms Carlson, who bears no relation to her former colleague, furiously denounced the network and criticised the channel’s journalists for covering Mr Carlson’s remarks and the resulting backlash as if they are somehow unattached from the situation.
Notably, her criticism comes just days after Media Buzz host Howard Kurtz revealed on air that Fox bosses have banned him and others from speaking about the $1.6bn defamation lawsuit the network faces for its platforming of the lies that led to the attack.
“This is F’in bs — have your ‘straight’ news anchor call out total fabricated lies and an injustice to the American public by promoting lies via Tucker Carlson and pretend it’s not your network,” said Ms Carlson.
She added: “WTF.”
Her former coworker has been revealed as trying to play both sides of the issue; private texts sent by Mr Carlson have now been made public as part of the aforementioned lawsuit his company faces – and in them, a different Mr Carlson emerges. In the texts, the pro-Trump primetime cheerleader is seen as desperate for his party to move on from the former president, gives no stock to his conspiracies about the 2020 election, and even refers to one of Donald Trump’s lawyers as liars.
On air, however, he has sought this week to depict the violent attack on Congress as anything but. Despite the serious injuries suffered by police, including one officer who suffered two strokes and died shortly after the attack, the Fox host described the invading rioters as “meek” while deriding responding officers as nothing more than “tour guides” while playing footage of police attempting to verbally dissuade rioters from continuing their criminal actions.
His words have earned condemnations from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, and a number of his GOP colleagues. The head of US Capitol Police also denounced Mr Carlson’s words in a letter on Tuesday.
Absent from the wave of criticism is House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, newly elected to his position and facing the prospect of presiding over an unruly caucus with only a single-digit majority in the lower chamber. The Speaker dodged questions about whether he approved of Mr Carlson’s depiction of January 6 on his show this week, claiming to have not watched the opinion host’s show himself despite having been the one to approve giving Mr Carlson the exclusive.
