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In a short set of prepared comments, Tucker Carlson (lastly) addressed the revelation that his now-former high author, Blake Neff, was secretly posting racist and sexist materials on a web-based discussion board. “On Friday, many of those posts became public,” Carlson mentioned. “Blake was horrified by the story and he was ashamed. Friday afternoon he resigned from his job.”

Carlson mentioned the feedback Neff wrote beneath a pseudonym on the net discussion board had been “wrong” and that he doesn’t “endorse those words.” Carlson continued, “It is wrong to attack people for qualities they cannot control. In this country, we judge people for what they do, not for how they were born. We often say that because we mean it.” Carlson added that Neff “fell short of that standard and he has paid a very high price for it.”

And then issues took a flip. Carlson mentioned, “We should also point out to the ghouls now beating their chests and triumph of the destruction of a young man that self-righteousness also has its costs. We are all human. When we pretend we are holy, we are lying. When we pose as blameless in order to hurt other people, we are committing the gravest sin of all and we will be punished for it. There’s no question.” As The New Republic’s Matt Ford observed, “Carlson [was] visibly less displeased with Neff … than he [was] with the reporters who exposed Neff.”

If you watched Carlson’s remarks and knew what he was speaking about, you’ll have seen a obtrusive omission. At no level did Carlson ever describe his former high author’s on-line feedback, a lot much less observe that that they had been racist and sexist. And at no level did he clarify to viewers that Neff was actively posting such feedback as just lately as final week.

The common viewer tuning in who had not seen our reporting might have come away with the impression that Neff had made some edgy remarks years in the past and was compelled out by a cancel tradition mob. That’s *NOT* what occurred, however Carlson structured his remarks leaving room for that interpretation. As Erik Wemple tweeted, “Viewers who hadn’t seen the stories might have no idea what he was saying.”

Misleading, at greatest

While he tried to place distance between Neff and the present, Carlson mentioned of Neff’s vulgar on-line remarks, “They have no connection to the show.” But that is deceptive at greatest. First, Neff was clearly Carlson’s high author — so his personal private views had a direct relationship to the present. But much more to the purpose, we documented cases in our story the place Neff’s on-line exercise did connect with the present — from planting an Easter egg into Carlson’s script, to one thing in a information story that he virtually definitely noticed on the discussion board ending up within the present, to comparable language, there was overlap between the 2…

Reminder: He may have mentioned this all Friday

It’s price noting that Carlson had all the chance on this planet to have addressed this matter on Friday. We reached out to Neff for remark Thursday evening, and by Friday morning Fox News knew our story was within the works, leaving Carlson with a good period of time to arrange remarks and deal with all of it.

But he did not, as an alternative ready till Monday evening. Which is unusual proper? After all, if you happen to had been a cable information host, would not you be outraged if you happen to realized your high author had been secretly posting racist materials on-line? Wouldn’t you need to deal with it and clear the air? Apparently not Carlson…

A “long-planned” vacation

At the tip of his present, Carlson introduced that he was heading on a “long-planned” vacation to do some “trout fishing.” While it could be true, it is price noting that there’s a lengthy custom of Fox News anchors occurring supposedly pre-planned holidays once they spark controversy. Think Bill O’Reilly (whose vacation was, it turned out, truly pre-planned, even when he did not return from it), Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, and even Carlson himself prior to now…



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