March 12, 2019

Tucker Carlson Calls Iraqis “Semiliterate Primitive Monkeys” in Latest Round of Tapes

The Fox News host refused to apologize for another set of remarks.

Brian Cahn/ZUMA

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Already under fire over recently unearthed remarks that have been widely condemned as misogynistic, Fox News host Tucker Carlson is facing another barrage of criticism. A new round of decade-old recordings released late Monday by the liberal group Media Matters captures Carlson describing Iraqis as “semiliterate primitive monkey.” In a separate instance, he criticizes Iraqis for having a “culture where people just don’t use toilet paper or forks.”

In another tape dating back to August 2008, Carlson claims that the Congressional Black Caucus “exists to blame the white man for everything.” He adds, “I’m happy to say that in public because it’s true.” One month later, he credited “white men” with “creating civilization.”

On Sunday, Media Matters published the first set of recordings of Carlson’s appearances on the “Bubba the Love Sponge” radio show from 2006 to 2011. In one October 2007 interview, Carlson compares women to “dogs” while calling them “extremely primitive.” In a 2009 clip, Carlson is heard defending polygamist cult leader Warren Jeffs, who is currently serving a life sentence for child sexual assault.

Carlson refused to apologize in the wake of the first set of remarks, which he sought to minimize as “naughty.” Fox News has so far declined to comment on the mounting controversy, even after the network publicly rebuked host Jeanine Pirro for her on-air comments this weekend questioning Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D-Minn.) loyalty to the US Constitution because of her hijab.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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