Fox News host Tucker Carlson explained on Wednesday why an explosive segment in which he told Dutch historian and author Rutger Bregman to “go fuck yourself” never made it to air after the audio was shared online.
Carlson said in a nearly two-minute segment, which did not air on TV but was shared online, that his use of “vulgar” language prompted the cable news network not to air the interview.
“Things went fine for the first few minutes and then Bregman launched into an attack on Fox News,” he said in a video he shared on his Twitter account. “It’s not clear that Bregman has ever seen Fox, but he wanted to make his point. Fine.”
“But then he claimed that my corporate masters tell me what to say on the show and that was too much,” Carlson said. “Whatever my faults of those of this channel, nobody in management has ever told us what positions to take on the air.”
After noting that after working for the other two major cable news channels, MSNBC and CNN, he knows how “rare” that freedom of speech is, and said there was no convincing Bregman.
“So I did what I try hard never to do on this show and I was rude,” he admitted and noted his comments were otherwise “heartfelt” and that he “meant it with total sincerity”
Here’s why we didn’t air that segment last week. https://t.co/cQHlfEQZT1
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 21, 2019
In the unaired segment, the audio of which was captured by cellphone and published by NowThis, Carlson began the conversation by praising Bregman for his recent viral speech at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in which he chastised billionaires in the room for avoiding taxes.
The conversation took a turn when Bregman accused Fox News of being “bought by the billionaire class.”
After Bregman said Carlson takes the “dirty money” from the Murdoch family — the Fox News Channel was founded by Rupert Murdoch, who is currently its executive chairman — Carlson turned to profanity.
“Why don’t you go fuck yourself, you tiny brain — and I hope this gets picked up because you’re a moron,” Carlson said. “I tried to give you a hearing, but you were too fucking annoying.”
Bregman revealed in a tweet earlier this month that Carlson had called him a “fucking moron” during the pre-recording and hinted that there was some concern in the room that someone had recorded the conversation. “Let’s see if they’ll air it. ‘Did they get it on audio?? Fuck fuck fuck’ we heard them say here.. (Yes, we did.),” he said.
Bregman also shared a screenshot of an email he claims he got from Carlson after asking when the segment would air. “I loved what you said at Davos, so I had high hopes for our interview,” Carlson said. “But you turned out to be far dumber, more dogmatic and less impressive than I expected.”
In a series of tweets Wednesday, Bregman said he chose to release the audio “because I think we should keep talking about the corrupting influence of money in politics. It also shows how angry elites can get if you do that.”
“I stand behind what I said, but there’s one thing I should have done better. When Carlson asked me how he’s being influenced by Big Business and tax-avoiding billionaires, I should have quoted Noam Chomsky,” he said. “Years ago, when he was asked a similar question, Chomsky replied: ‘I’m sure you believe everything you’re saying. But what I’m saying is that if you believe something different, you wouldn’t be sitting where you’re sitting.”
