Background: Tucker Carlson speaks onstage during Politicon 2018 at Los Angeles Convention Center. Photo by Forward Montage/Rich Polk/Getty Images for Politicon

Jonathan Greenblatt June 9, 2023

Tucker Carlson, our modern-day Father Coughlin recently ousted from Fox News, is back at it again with a new show on Twitter.

If you happened to miss the first episode, consider yourself lucky. The show was rife with antisemitism, conspiracy theories about 9/11 and UFOs, and truly revolting rhetoric sprinkled with antisemitic tropes about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Carlson referred to the Jewish head of state as “sweaty and rat-like” and a “persecutor of Christians.”

These remarks are antisemitic, vile lies. And they come at a time of rising antisemitic incidents and attitudes worldwide, making them all the more problematic and dangerous.

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Bringing conspiracy theories to the masses

For years, Carlson slyly wove anti-Jewish conspiracy theories into his show on Fox News – attacking billionaire philanthropist George Soros, slandering Paul Singer, and promoting white supremacist ideas like the “great replacement theory.” ADL wrote to the network on numerous occasions calling for Carlson’s ouster for the offenses listed above and much more.

They delayed taking action until it was far too late. Carlson has always appealed to cranks and conspiracy theorists, scaring major advertisers away from Fox Primetime for years. But now, fired from Fox and allowed to freely broadcast his ideas on Twitter, it’s only going to get worse.

Carlson on white supremacy: ‘Not a real problem’

In January 2021, Carlson offered his viewers a full-throated defense of the antisemitic QAnon conspiracy theory. Just days after the mass shooting attack in August 2019 at an El Paso Walmart at the hands of an avowed white supremacist, Carlson suggested that white supremacy in America was “not a real problem.” In December 2018, Carlson suggested immigrants make the U.S. “dirtier.”

Now, Carlson is bringing his unfiltered hate to Twitter. If new Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino wants to attract Fortune 500 advertisers and Elon Musk wants to create a genuine public square — an idea I agree with, with appropriate guardrails — it might be wise to reconsider the decision to give Carlson such a huge platform. 

There’s no hiding reality: Carlson is a white supremacist sympathizer and an antisemite. You cannot give someone like him a huge megaphone and expect corporations and businesses to continue to advertise on your platform.

Don’t platform hate

Carlson has a First Amendment right to say what he wants. But there’s nothing in the Constitution that says it needs to be on Twitter, shoved in front of millions by an algorithm.

Twitter should not give those who promote extremism and conspiracy theories a free platform to amplify their inflammatory views. Carlson’s words are not mere rhetoric: Actively spreading online hate, time and again, inspires offline violence. We know that extremists are listening to Carlson and see him as one of their own, especially given his repeated embrace of the great replacement theory and fearmongering over “white genocide.”

But given his long record of sowing hate and the unhinged nature of his new show, Twitter should follow Fox News’ lead and deplatform Carlson once and for all.

To contact the author, email opinion@forward.com. 

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