Fox News host Tucker Carlson has refused to apologize after audio surfaced of him spouting sexist commentary on a radio show between 2006 and 2011. On Sunday, the organization Media Matters published clips and transcripts of Carlson's remarks as a guest on the shock jock program "Bubba the Love Sponge Show," in which he calls women "extremely primitive," dismisses the severity of statutory rape, and claims to "feel sorry for unattractive women."
Carlson was working for both MSNBC and Fox News at the time of the calls. The subject of his rants varied. During one call, the television host came to the defense of the convicted polygamist cult leader Warren Jeffs, claiming that his life sentence was handed down only because he was "weird and unpopular."
Carlson doubled down on his assertion, stating that underage marriage should not be condemned to the same extent as forcible rape. "Now this guy may be a child rapist I'm just telling you that arranging a marriage between a 16-year-old and a 27-year-old is not the same as pulling a stranger off the street and raping her," he said.
Carlson also took aim at specific women, including colleagues at MSNBC. He referred to Alexis Stewart, a television host and daughter of Martha Stewart, as "c*nty" and stated that he wanted to "give her the spanking she so desperately needs." Carlson also attacked then-Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, who now serves as an associate justice on the country's highest court. "I do feel sorry for her in that way," he said. "I feel sorry for unattractive women...physically, the problems with her are fundamental. She’s never going to be an attractive woman."
Carlson also called women "extremely primitive," adding that "they're not that hard to understand." He then said that women should be more submissive and fall in line. "You debate politics with a woman and just go—just full blown out there, especially feminism," Carlson said. "If you're talking to a feminist, and she's giving you, 'Well, men really need to be more sensitive,' (say) 'no, actually, men don't need to be more sensitive, you just need to be quiet and kind of do what you're told.'"
In response to the backlash Carlson received for his misogynist remarks, the television host released a defiant statement on Twitter. "Media Matters caught me saying something naughty on a radio show more than a decade ago. Rather than express the usual ritual contrition, how about this: I’m on television every weeknight live for an hour," he said. "If you want to know what I think, you can watch."
