Democratic National Committee Vice Chairman Michael Blake tore into Fox News and host Tucker Carlson during a Tuesday morning Fox News interview, directly asking anchor Bill Hemmer why the network still employs Carlson following his infamous claim that white supremacy is a “hoax.”
Brought on to discuss Carlson’s Monday night prediction that former first lady Michelle Obama will eventually be the Democratic presidential nominee, Blake took the opportunity to hijack the goofy premise and blast both the network and Carlson.
“She is not running,” he asserted. “But the core question is why the hell does Tucker Carlson still have a job here in the first place? The reality is this is someone who said white supremacy is a hoax and why does Fox allow him to still be here in the first place?”
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Earlier this year and mere days after a white supremacist deliberately targeted Mexicans in the El Paso mass shooting that left 22 dead, Carlson took to his primetime show to claim white supremacy is “not a real problem” and a “hoax,” prompting calls for his firing.
Hemmer, meanwhile, attempted to plow through, asking Blake to respond to Carlson’s opinion about Mrs. Obama throwing her hat in the ring while ignoring the New York assemblyman’s criticisms.
“Not gonna happen,” Blake said about Obama running, before adding: “But I think the core question is he shouldn’t be on here at all.”
“We get it,” Hemmer snapped back. “We didn’t bring you on to talk about Tucker Carlson but to talk about the Democratic field.”
They would go on to talk about the presidential race for the next couple of minutes. The fireworks, however, were not completely over. After Blake took another shot at the network over its rhetoric and coverage, Hemmer stopped him short.
“I didn’t bring you on to bash our network,” the Fox anchor said. “With all due respect, why don’t we keep it on topic?”
“But it’s relevant,” Blake retorted.
“No it’s not,” Hemmer fumed. “It is not relevant to the conversation we’re having. Save it for later.”
In an interview on Tuesday evening, Blake told The Daily Beast that when he knew that Hemmer was going to ask about Carlson’s Obama prediction, he “decided that enough’s enough.”
“The reality is that Tucker and Laura Ingraham and so many others over there continue to toss out ridiculous theories while simultaneously never being called out for their blatant racism and discrimination,” he said.
Asked whether he thought Hemmer made a fair point when the anchor said he wasn’t going to let him bash the network, the New York lawmaker answered no.
“I respect Bill and I’ve done interviews with him in the past,” Blake said. “There was one piece that was telling—when he said ‘save it for later.’ So you invited the vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee on Fox and you were surprised that I had criticism for Tucker Carlson and Fox? That by itself is pretty perplexing and surprising.”
And as to whether he thinks Fox will invite him back on the air?
“At the end of the day, you are a news network where you welcome different voices. There are many examples of times I have been on Fox enduring a barrage of attacks,” he concluded. “If they don’t invite me back because I called out the racism of one of their anchors, it speaks a lot about them and the network.”
