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| Photo Credit: AP. |
Fox News host Tucker Carson Thursday denied possible ties with white supremacist groups as he vehemently defends his controvesial commentary on race relations during his nightly show.
“I’ve never
had a white supremacist work for me. I don’t think I’ve ever talked to a white
supremacist,” Carlson said during event hosted by Semafor, a new media company
founded by journalist Ben Smith and media executive Justin Smith, according to
The Hill. “I’m not sure what that means. I know it’s a slur and the worst thing
that a person can be. I don’t really understand the terms.”
The Hill
reported that Carlson had been asked by Ben Smith about comments the host has
made in recent years on matters of immigration, race relations and demographic
changes in the American electorate.
Smith
reportedly played a widely-shared clip from one of Carlson’s recent shows
during Thursday’s event. The clip pulled in an average viewership of more than
3 million every weeknight and reportedly showed the host arguing that
Democratic politicians are working to “replace” what he called “legacy”
Americans with new voters from other countries, according to The Hill.
His comments
are likened to so-called “Great Replacement Theory,” a racist ideology that
suggests white people are being replaced by minorities, according to The Hill. A
New York Times analysis of the situation found Carlson has mentioned variations
on the replacement theory idea in more than 400 episodes of is show since 2016,
The Hill reported.
“I have no
empathy for people who derive their judgments about anything from thirty second
clips on Media Matters,” Carlson said Thursday in reference to the liberal
watchdog group that tracks narratives present on Fox News and in other
conservative media, according to The Hill.
“Why have
you been fly paper for racists,” Smith asked Carlson in reference to comments
posted by former staffers on his show on white supremacist message boards.
“I believe that people are not defined by their race, any race,” Carlson said. “People are defined, their value is derived from the fact that they were A, created by God, and B, by what they do, by the choices they make. They’re not part of some larger group, they’re individuals. I believe in the individual and I say that virtually every night.”
Carlson also
took aim at those who accused him of being racist, “I don’t know what to say to
you.”
“I’m stating
my sincere views as reflected in my personal life and my professional life as
clearly as I can,” he said.