Meet the Gay Man Fueling Tucker Carlson's Anti-LGBTQ+ Program

A gay man is one of the forces behind Fox News Channel's Tucker Carlson and his poisonous anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.

Justin Wells "runs the entire Tucker Carlson operation, and is responsible for imprinting the Tucker Carlson brand, which is all about emboldening white heterosexual male grievance, furthering the racist conspiracy of 'replacement theory' and pushing an increasingly virulent anti-LGBTQ agenda," Michelangelo Signorile wrote this week in his Substack column, The Signorile Report. "Wells is Senior Executive Producer of 'Tucker Carlson Tonight' and also holds the title of Vice President of Tucker Carlson Digital Products."

Wells has been with Fox News for 14 years. He was field producer on Greta Van Susteren's On the Record from 2008 until 2016, then was the inaugural executive producer on Tucker Carlson Tonight when it started in 2016. He was promoted to senior executive producer in 2018. He is one of the most powerful producers at Fox News, former colleagues told Signorile.

Carlson's show has a well-documented history of homophobia and transphobia as well as racism and sexism. Signorile provided a few recent examples. On his first show after the November 19 mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Carlson offered "a perfunctory condemnation of the violence," then went back to some of his usual tropes, condemning drag queen story hours and alleging that transgender minors undergo "genital mutilation," which is inaccurate as genital surgery is almost never performed on minors.

The next night, he hosted Jaimee Michell of Gays Against Groomers, who blamed the victims for the Club Q shooting. Michell said the tragedy was "expected and predictable," and that violence against LGBTQ+ people "won't stop until we end this evil agenda that is attacking children."

Wells did not offer any comment to Signorile. But others said his power at Tucker Carlson Tonight is clear. "It's unlikely that any narrative would get broadcast by Tucker without significant buy-in from Justin," Media Matters President and CEO Angelo Carusone told Signorile. Wells has even appeared on the show himself and touted the support he and the team receive from Fox executives.

Unlike some LGBTQ+ people involved in right-wing causes, Wells is no "closet case," Signorile noted. He has been married to a man for almost a decade, and they share a home in New York City as well as a second residence in the country. Signorile did not reveal the husband's name out of respect for his privacy. Also, years ago, Wells was active in NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists, along with a boyfriend with whom he has since broken up. He apparently curtailed his NLGJA activity shortly after joining Fox News.

It may seem strange that Carlson would have a gay man as a close associate, Signorile noted, "but Carlson also has always reveled in having members of minority groups he bashes standing up for him and against the group, sort of like trophies." Wells's presence, he added, "emboldens Carlson further."

"That makes Justin Wells' presence as the powerful gay man behind Tucker Carlson all the more newsworthy," he concluded. "And all the more dangerous."

After the story was picked up by several news outlets, Donald Trump Jr. took issue with Signorile's work about Wells.

"Signorile has made a pathetic career out of tearing down gay men who don't agree with him. Now he's going after Justin Wells, a gay man who runs all of Tucker Carlson's shows -- he only wants gay people to succeed if they buy into his leftist propaganda," Trump wrote.

Signorile posted a screenshot of Trump's tweet, commenting, "When they've brought out this loser you know they're freaking out and desperate."