Companies are pulling advertisements from Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show after the host made anti-immigrant comments during a segment last week.
Carlson’s show has lost at least six advertisers since his outburst last Thursday, during which he claimed immigrants make the U.S. “Poor and dirtier.” Five days later on Monday, the far-right pundit doubled down, telling viewers, “The left would very much like you to stop talking and thinking about bad decisions they’ve made over the years.” He continued, “‘Shut up,’ they’re screaming, including to this show. Obviously, we won’t and you shouldn’t either.”
Reacting on Friday, the insurance company, Pacific Life, was the first to pull their ads, NY Mag reported. “Our customer base and our workforce reflect the diversity of our great nation, something we take great pride in,” the company said in a statement.
On Monday, five more companies canceled ads. The job listing website Indeed announced on Twitter that it “is not currently advertising on Tucker Carlson and has no plans to advertise on this program in the future.” The online marketplace Minted; SmileDirectClub; Nautilus, Inc.; and NerdWallet also pulled their ads.
On Tuesday, Just For Men said it would no longer advertise with the show, and IHOP pulled its ads, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Meanwhile, a number of advertisers, such as Mitsubishi and John Deere, are still with Carlson’s show. A Mitsubishi spokesperson told The Daily Beast that advertising “is determined based on demographics and psychographics, not politics,” adding that the company would continue monitoring the situation and make adjustments where needed.
Over the last year, Carlson has peddled white nationalist talking points to his viewers, including the “white genocide” conspiracy theory. Additionally, he has published posts by white nationalists on his website the Daily Caller, including from Jason Kessler, who planned the deadly 2017 “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. The post has since been removed. Carlson also has received praise from white nationalists David Duke, a former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard, and alt-right head Richard Spencer.
“It is a shame that left wing advocacy groups, under the guise of being supposed ‘media watchdogs’ weaponize social media against companies in an effort to stifle free speech,” Fox News said in a statement obtained by Fast Company. “We continue to stand by and work with our advertisers through these unfortunate and unnecessary distractions.”
In the past, such boycotts haven’t endured. Sean Hannity lost advertisers like Dollar Shave Club last year after defending the alleged child molester Roy Moore, but the company went right back to running ads following Moore’s election loss.