A Fox News host is once again the target of a left-wing advertiser boycott campaign and this time it’s prime time host Tucker Carlson. And as the liberal media often do, they throw fuel onto the fire. During Wednesday’s edition of the CBS Evening News, correspondent Jericka Duncan promoted the boycott and singled out the companies who had yet to pull their ads from Tucker Carlson Tonight.
The offending act? Carlson said this on this show late last week: “We have a moral obligation to admit the world’s poor, they tell us, even if it makes our own country poorer and dirtier and more divided.”
“When Fox News host Tucker Carlson made those comments last Thursday, critics called for advertisers to pull their ads. On Monday, Carlson said he will not back down,” Duncan began. She hid the fact that those “critics” were radical left-wing groups like Sleeping Giants and ThinkProgress.
She boasted that “so far, more than a dozen advertisers, including Pacific Life and IHOP, withdrew or have requested that their ads not air on Carlson's program.” Possibly to shame those that have not made a move, Duncan called out companies that have yet to pull their ads “like Mitsubishi and Bayer.”
Of course, Duncan failed to mention that IHOP still does business with human rights violators like Saudi Arabia and a whole host of other Middle Eastern counties, a point made by The Daily Caller.
“IHOP cited its company ‘values’ to justify the boycott, but still does business in Saudi Arabia, an oppressive regime with a lengthy record of human rights abuses,” wrote The Caller’s Peter Hasson. “Saudi Arabia’s repeated human rights violations include ‘unlawful killings,’ ‘official gender discrimination against women’ and ‘criminalization of same-sex sexual activity,’ according to the U.S. State Department.”
“Carlson maintains his comments were in response to seeing debris in Tijuana where the migrant caravan is camped out,” Duncan added. But those comments were not just something he “maintains.” Twice, Carlson has had Tijuana Mayor Juan Manuel Gastelum on his show to talk about the caravan. Both times Mayor Gastelum talked about the squalid conditions of the caravan encampments.
Duncan did note that “Carlson's views on immigration and other issues have come under fire before. In November, the left-wing fringe group Antifa protested at his home.” But she downplayed the event by all but ignoring the implicit threats to the well-being of Carlson and his family. There was also no mention by Duncan of the vandalism done to Carlson’s property or the terrorizing of his wife, who was home alone at the time, which CBS anchor Jeff Glor reported on previously.
“Police are investigating it as a possible hate crime, according to the Washington Metropolitan Police tonight. It points the growing problem of harassment and violence targeting public figures,” Fox News anchor Bret Baier reported at the time. Duncan didn’t seem to think much of Fox News’s reference to that harassment in their recent statement on the correct boycott.
“Experts we spoke with today, who cover media sales and ads, says more than a dozen advertisers pulling essentially their funding is a big deal,” she added as she was wrapping up the report. She also seemed to lament that, “if Fox is able to find other companies to fill those slots financially, well then as you can imagine, the show will go on.”
It’s odd that CBS would choose now to try to promote a boycott campaign for something someone said and especially considering what CBS was currently going through with the pervasive sexual misconduct allegations against former company head Les Moonves and former anchor Charlie Rose. Why would advertisers support that?
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
CBS Evening News
December 19, 2018
6:48:13 p.m. Eastern [1 minute 42 seconds]JEFF GLOR: A Fox News host is in a harsh spotlight tonight. Tucker Carlson has taken criticism for his recent comments on immigration. Some advertisers are leaving. Here's Jericka Duncan.
[Cuts to video]
TUCKER CARLSON: We have a moral obligation to admit the world’s poor, they tell us, even if it makes our own country poorer and dirtier and more divided.
JERICKA DUNCAN: When Fox News host Tucker Carlson made those comments last Thursday, critics called for advertisers to pull their ads. On Monday, Carlson said he will not back down.
CARLSON: We're not intimidated. We plan to try to say what is true until the last day.
DUNCAN: So far, more than a dozen advertisers, including Pacific Life and IHOP, withdrew or have requested that their ads not air on Carlson's program. But some haven't, like Mitsubishi and Bayer. Carlson maintains his comments were in response to seeing debris in Tijuana where the migrant caravan is camped out.
ANTIFA PROTESTERS: We know where you sleep at night.
DUNCAN: Carlson's views on immigration and other issues have come under fire before. In November, the left-wing fringe group Antifa protested at his home. Fox News said in a statement, “attempts were made last month to bully and terrorize Tucker and his family at their home. He is now once again being threatened via Twitter by far-left activist groups with deeply political motives.”
[Cuts back to live]
Experts we spoke with today, who cover media sales and ads, says more than a dozen advertisers pulling essentially their funding is a big deal. But Jeff, if Fox is able to find other companies to fill those slots financially, well then as you can imagine, the show will go on.
GLOR: All right, Jericka Duncan, thank you very much.
