Tucker Carlson Denounces His Racist, Antigay Writer, But Not Himself

Fox News host Tucker Carlson is going on a "long planned" vacation after the revelation that the top writer on his show has posted racist, sexist, and homophobic remarks online.

The writer, Blake Neff, resigned Friday after he was identified by CNN Business as the author of many horrendous posts on AutoAdmit, described by The Washington Post as "a website that traffics in hateful commentary." He posted under a pseudonym. He had been a writer for Tucker Carlson Tonight since 2017.

Carlson addressed the matter Monday on his program, which is currently the top-rated cable news show. "What Blake wrote anonymously was wrong," he said. "We don't endorse those words. They have no connection to this show. It is wrong to attack people for qualities they cannot control. In this country, we judge people for what they do, not for how they were born. We often say that, because we mean it. We will continue to defend that principle, often alone among national news programs, because it is essential. Nothing is more important.

"Blake fell short of that standard and he has paid a very heavy price for it. But we should also point out, to the ghouls now beating their chests in triumph at the destruction of a young man, that self-righteousness also has its costs. We are all human. When we pretend we are holy, we are lying. When we pose as blameless in order to hurt other people, we are committing the gravest sin of all. And we will be punished for it. There's no question."

Carlson ended the show by announcing he was going on vacation for the rest of the week, something he described as "long planned." He also went on vacation last year after calling white supremacy a hoax.

Neff's posts, written under the pseudonym CharlesXII and documented by CNN Business, are mind-boggling. In the past week, when another user started a thread by asking, "Would u let a JET BLACK congo n****er do lasik eye surgery on u for 50% off?" Neff responded, "I wouldn't get LASIK from an Asian for free, so no."

He has derided several women, including one he called an "Azn megashrew." He wrote last year that a "large minority of whites who are fully supportive of a F**k Whitey agenda" and that "there's a suicidal impulse to Western peoples that honestly feels almost biological in origin." A few years ago he created a thread titled "Urban business idea: He Didn't Do Muffin!" in which he said such a store could offer "Sandra Bland's Sugar-free Shortbreads!" Bland is a Black woman who was found hanged in a Texas jail cell in 2015 after being arrested during a traffic stop. Her death was ruled a suicide, but her family has questioned that conclusion.

On the site, Neff has used racist images of Black slaves pulled from a video game that's no longer on the market, assigning the images to fellow users. He has said progressive members of Congress want to make the U.S. "a dumping ground for people from Third World shitholes," and he has joked about "foodie faggots."

While Carlson condemned Neff's words, it should be noted that the host has his own history of bigoted comments, along with some that are just bizarre, leading some advertisers to exit his show. In 2018 he discussed the influx of Latinx people into a town in Pennsylvania and said, "Before you call anyone bigoted, consider -- and be honest -- how would you feel if that happened in your neighborhood?"

He has mocked gender-neutral pronouns and said he expects to be forced to use them at gunpoint, and has called transgender people crazy. He has made fun of a long acronym including LGBTQ+ people and several other sexual minorities, used in training materials for one Canadian school district, and contended it was being "imposed on the rest of us," which it is not. He has dragged Pulse shooting survivor Brandon Wolf, a gay man, for criticizing Vice President Mike Pence, and he even once bragged about beating up another gay man.

He has derided onetime presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg's military service and, very strangely, said that the press and the gay politician's fellow Democrats "want to consume him like a hearty stew. Every last drop of Buttigieg. Yum." And on a shock jock's radio show between 2006 and 2011, he made many misogynistic comments, such as calling Hillary Clinton "anti-penis," and he also casually tossed around the word "fag." Those remarks resurfaced last year, and Carlson refused to apologize for them.

Just recently, he has questioned U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth's patriotism because she said she was willing to have a discussion about potential removal of monuments to historical figures who were slaveholders. Duckworth lost both of her legs during military service in Iraq. Additionally, Carlson has spent much time this summer saying antiracism protests have nothing to do with racism and focusing on the small number of people who have committed violent acts during the demonstrations.

Also, CNN notes, many of the things Neff posted on AutoAdmit have turned up, in slightly revised form, on Carlson's show. For instance, recently Neff defended a football coach who wore a sweatshirt with a controversial message, saying it was an American right to wear whatever shirt you desire, and Carlson echoed that on his show the next night. The Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, in a profile of Neff, said he and Carlson "see eye to eye on most issues" and quoted Neff as saying, "Anything he's reading off the teleprompter, the first draft was written by me."