Judd Apatow called for an expansion of sponsor boycotts against Tucker Carlson this weekend, calling out advertisers by name on Twitter to his more than 2 million followers after the Fox News host said immigrants made the United States “poorer” and “dirtier.”
“Hey @pfizer – what does it say about your company and your moral positions if you advertise on @tuckercarlson’s show? He and @FoxNews get rich off of dividing our country and spewing lies and hate at immigrant communities who are just trying to survive. Maybe choose another show,” Apatow said in a tweet.
“Hey @subaru_usa – why would you continue to advertise on @TuckerCarlson’s show when he spews so much racism and hate? How does that reflect the values of your company? There must be other shows you can advertise on which are not destructive to our country,” he offered in another.
The two tweets generated a combined 5,000 retweets between them — but so far neither advertiser has publicly budged, with both continuing the back the show. A rep for Fox News did not immediately respond to request for comment from TheWrap.
The weekend push against Carlson was part of a broad assault led by Media Matters and activists like Twitter user Jordan Uhl after insurance giant Pacific Life officially suspended their relationship with Carlson’s show.
“One of our ads appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show last night following a segment where Mr. Carlson made a number of statements regarding immigration,” the company said in a statement posted to Twitter Friday afternoon.
“As a company, we strongly disagree with Mr. Carlson’s statements. Our customer base and our workforce reflect the diversity of our great nation, something we take great pride in. We will not be advertising on Mr. Carlson’s show in the coming week as we reevaluate our relationship with his program.”
Since that statement, Carlson’s other advertisers, including Expedia, Capital One and Liberty Mutual, have come under renewed pressure to drop the show. As of Monday morning, the network appears to have held the line with no further defections beyond Pacific Life.
In a statement to TheWrap on Friday, Fox News Channel SVP of Eastern Ad Sales Dom Rossi offered a complete defense of Carlson.
“It is a shame that political pressure groups, under the guise of ‘media watchdogs,’ weaponize social media against companies in an effort to stifle free speech. We continue to stand by and work with our advertisers through these unfortunate and unnecessary distractions,” he said.