The racist comments made by Tucker Carlson about the Iraqi people and their culture are beyond offensive to Iraqis and Arabs. Carlson’s verbal assault on Arab culture is abhorrent and will not be tolerated. Yesterday, Media Matters published a 2008 recording of Carlson, where he is quoted as saying Iraq is a, “place filled with a bunch of, you know, semiliterate primitive monkeys.” Additionally, Carlson is heard making a series of racist, anti-Black, anti-Arab, anti-immigrant, sexists, and xenophobic remarks throughout the recording.
ADC calls on Fox News to denounce the racists comments made by Carlson, and calls for his immediate removal from the network. This racist language is absolutely inexcusable and must be addressed by the network, beyond a simple written denunciation. The only respectable direction forward for Fox News is to publicly rebuke Carlson’s language and to remove Carlson from Fox News; anything less than this will be taken as an affirmation by the network of the views spewed by Carlson.
Iraqi culture and history goes back centuries, and there is a universal acknowledgment that Iraq is the cradle of civilization. The comments and viewpoints of Carlson are grounded in bigotry, hatred, racism and xenophobia. This language is indefensible and contradicts the values this country claims to uphold. As our community continues to endure the effect of racism and discrimination, ADC reminds media platforms such as Fox News that they have a responsibility to respond strongly to such rhetoric and not affirm it.