T-Mobile and ABC have pulled any future advertising on Tucker Carlson Tonight following the host’s recent remarks about the Black Lives Matter movement and the death of George Floyd.
“The ABC advertisements were placed on the show without our knowledge by third-party media buyers who were unaware that we do not advertise on the show, and they have now been notified not to place any further ads,” a spokesperson told Deadline, which reported the company had run about 30 ads on Carlson’s prime-time show so far this year.
Some of Carlson’s advertisers have been under pressure to pull their financial support of his program following his characterization of the demonstrations in the wake of Floyd’s death as “riots” rather than peaceful protests.
“This may be a lot of things, this moment we’re living through, but it is definitely not about black lives,” Carlson said last week. “And remember that when they come for you — and at this rate, they will.”
A Fox News spokesperson told Business Insider that comment was “clearly referring to Democratic leaders and inner-city politicians.”
Separately, Carlson has accused celebrities who have offered to bail jailed protesters out of custody as allowing violent criminals back on the streets.
Since the May 25 death of Floyd, a black man who was killed after a white police officer knelt on his neck for more than eight minutes, a renewed push to address systemic racism in America has begun.
Sleeping Giants, an online social media campaign that tracks right-wing media, this week asked T-Mobile if it was comfortable with Carlson’s recent comments on race in America.
“We haven’t run ads on Tucker Carlson Tonight since early May and have cancelled all future placements,” the company responded in a tweet. “We will continue to support those who stand against racial injustice.”
[Read more: ‘They want segregation’: Tucker Carlson blasts Washington lawmakers as ‘lunatics’ create Seattle autonomous zone]
If #blacklivesmatter to T-Mobile, will you reconsider your support of Tucker Carlson Tonight, and of Fox News, who aired this extremely racist segment scaremongering about the Black community just last night? https://t.co/eGPf0jKkdQ https://t.co/WTgHMd3SNx
— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) June 9, 2020
Carlson’s show experienced a similar exodus of advertisers in 2018 after he suggested illegal immigrants make America “poorer, and dirtier, and more divided.”
Carlson’s program is one of the most-watched on cable news, pulling in 4.5 million viewers each night, according to Nielsen ratings.
