Sheex, a female-founded bedding and sleepwear company, has pulled its ads from Tucker Carlson’s primetime show — the second advertiser to do so in as many days — after unearthed audio released by Media Matters showed Carlson making disparaging comments against women and minorities.
“Due to the inappropriate statements of Tucker Carlson that have recently come to light, SHEEX has made the decision to cease advertising on his television program, Tucker Carlson Tonight,” the company said in a statement Tuesday.
The announcement came less than 24 hours after pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca pulled its ads from Carlson’s show.
On Sunday and Monday, liberal watchdog group Media Matters posted three separate compilations of audio from Carlson’s appearances on the “Bubba the Love Sponge Show” between 2006 and 2011. In the first batch, Carlson made disparaging remarks about women, including calling television host Alexis Stewart “c-ty,” and said that he opposed the arrest and prosecution of a fundamentalist minister who arranged illegal marriages between his adult male followers and underage girls.
On Monday, the group followed up by releasing more audio, in which Carlson called Iraqis “semiliterate primitive monkeys” and made disparaging comments about Michelle Obama and used an anti-gay slur.
No other advertisers have announced plans to part with Carlson. Quincy Bioscience, which advertises its Prevagen memory booster supplement on his show, told TheWrap on Monday that it does not publicly comment on its advertising, but said: “as a company we don’t support name calling or insulting commentary.”
A spokeswoman for Vorticom’s pain relief patches Salonpas — whose commercial ran on Carlson’s show on Thursday night — told TheWrap the company “is not advertiser” on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” The rep did not respond to a followup email requesting clarification.
TheWrap has reached out to other companies that have advertised on Carlson’s show recently ― including Capital One, Golden Corral and Jenny Craig. We will update this story as we hear back.
On Monday night, Carlson addressed the backlash on his show, doubling-down against his critics, saying that he would never “bow to the mob.”
A rep for Fox News repeated an earlier statement, saying the company stood behind its embattled hosts and attacked boycott organizers as politically motivated.
“We cannot and will not allow voices like Tucker Carlson to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts from the likes of Moveon.org, Media Matters and Sleeping Giants,” the statement said. “Attempts were made in November to bully and terrorize Tucker and his family at their home. He is now once again being threatened via Twitter by far left activist groups with deeply political motives. While we do not advocate boycotts, these same groups never target other broadcasters and operate under a grossly hypocritical double standard given their intolerance to all opposing points of view.”
Carlson’s Monday night show featured only one major advertiser, Bayer, and was heavy on Fox News promos during commercial breaks.
In December, Carlson faced an advertiser boycott after he said on his Fox show that immigrants make the country “poorer and dirtier.” At least 30 advertisers dropped his show in response, including Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, CareerBuilder, TD Ameritrade and Just For Men. Outback Steakhouse told TheWrap that it stopped advertising on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” in January, while PC Pitstop, a malware detection company, declined to comment.