Although Tucker Carlson dismissed criticism of defending statutory rape in tapes unearthed by Media Matter, saying his incendiary comments were made “more than a decade ago,” Monday, The Daily Beast resurfaced a video interview showing the Fox News host making similar arguments as recently as 2015.
“I’m for treating women differently from the way we treat men,” Carlson told Gavin McInnes, founder of the Proud Boys, during a podcast interview. “I’m not for playing along at all.”
Carlson argued that there was a difference between statutory rapes committed by men and those committed by women.
“It’s not even in the same universe, actually,” he told McInnes. “There are lots of things you have to play along with in life, and I understand society demands compromises… But there is a limit beyond which I can’t pretend anymore. And calling — in this case, it was a 17-year-old kid — a ‘rape victim’ because a teacher, who wasn’t even that old, or married, was kind enough to initiate him into the ways of adulthood. I’m not just going to sit there.”
“My best friend was involved in a relationship like that when we were kids,” Carlson went on to say. “There are not that many options. So you’re a 15-,16-, 17-year-old boy. You are driven by biology to procreate. So you are either going to be inflicting your attentions on one of your peers, who, let’s be honest, is not ready for it. She’s going to get hurt emotionally — 90 percent, I mean I’ve never seen a woman — girl — not hurt at that age,” adding, “I’m not going to pretend that’s rape, because it’s not.”
Carlson was referring to a case in which a female in Queens had sex with two 16-year-old students. According to the Queens Gazette, one of the students alerted authorities after the teacher had flipped because he was taking a date to the prom.
Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest tape.
As The Daily Beast noted, Carlson also discussed the case during a 2014 appearance on Fox News daytime show “Outnumbered.”
“It’s ludicrous we are calling this a rape. Are you serious?” he said. “I’ll tell you what’s wrong to this extent — he went and tattled to the police and destroyed her life.”
Carlson has been under renewed scrutiny after the liberal media watchdog Media Matters released a compilation reel Sunday evening in which the Fox News host can be heard in a 2009 radio appearance rationalizing the actions of Warren Jeffs, the cult leader convicted of arranging child marriages.
“I am not defending underage marriage at all,” Carlson told shock jock known as Bubba the Love Sponge in the 2009 interview. “I just don’t think it’s the same thing exactly as pulling a child from a bus stop and sexually assaulting that child…. The rapist, in this case, has made a lifelong commitment to live and take care of the person. So it it’s a little different. Let’s be honest about that.”
Carlson also reiterated his defense of female teachers who have sex with students.
“They are doing a service to all 13-year-old girls by taking the pressure off,” Carlson said. “They are a pressure relief valve, like the kind you have on your furnace.”
Carlson refused to apologize Sunday, instead welcoming his critics to come on his show and take issue with him directly.
“Media Matters caught me saying something naughty on a radio show more than a decade ago,” Carlson said. “Rather than express the usual ritual contrition, how about this: I’m on television every weeknight live for an hour. If you want to know what I think, you can watch. Anyone who disagrees with my views is welcome to come on and explain why.”
Media Matters said it has additional damning recordings of Carlson it plans to release.
“The other material is similarly vile,” company chief Angelo Carusone told TheWrap on Monday. “The next one will help give some additional insight into Tucker’s worldview vis-a-vis race and ethnicity.”
In unearthed audio, Tucker Carlson makes numerous misogynistic and perverted comments https://t.co/g2xDnIk7N3 pic.twitter.com/TO3os8RjsM
— Media Matters (@mmfa) March 10, 2019