At the end of his Fox News show on Wednesday, Tucker Carlson said he is taking “several days off” for a previously unannounced vacation.
“By the way, I am taking several days off — headed to the wilderness to fish with my son,” Carlson said Wednesday. “Politics is important, fishing with your son, sometimes more important. So I’m doing it.” Carlson said he’d be off Thursday, back on Friday for something he called “a special investigation,” and then would be taking all of next week off.
The vacation comes amid a backlash over comments Carlson made Tuesday. During a discussion of the two mass shootings that took place over the weekend, one of which came after a four-page anti-immigration screed posted to 8chan by the shooting suspect, Carlson said that white supremacy is “a hoax” and “not a real problem in America.”
The comments sparked wiedespread condemnation — and some mockery — though others, like white supremacist David Duke, expressed support .
Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TheWrap, but the network told CNN’s Oliver Darcy that the vacation has been planned for some time.
Even so, it isn’t the first time a Fox news host has abruptly taken a previously unannounced vacation that, according to the network, was actually already scheduled. Laura Ingraham took an unannounced vacation in March 2018 after losing a significant number of advertisers due to comments she made about Parkland, Florida, shooting survivor David Hogg.
And a year earlier, Sean Hannity took an unexpected vacation while facing bitter criticism for promoting debunked conspiracy theories about the murder of Seth Rich. Hannity’s vacation came just weeks after disgraced Fox News host Bill O’Reilly was fired following multiple accusations of sexual misconduct — while he was on vacation.