Wednesday was not a good day for Tucker Carlson’s credibility.
First, the White House slammed the Fox News host for spreading lies about the January 6, 2021, Capitol riots and then #TuckerCarlsonIsALiar became a trending hashtag on Twitter.
But the biggest insult to her reputation is a resurfaced video from 2003 showing Carlson being interviewed on C-SPAN about her book, “politicians, Partisans, and Parasites: My Adventures in Cable News“and, in particular, Bill O’Reilly, who at the time was the biggest name on Fox News.
Carlson claimed to admire O’Reilly, but also sounded a possible warning to the Fox News host, who was fired in 2017 after a series of sexual harassment allegations against him.
“Bill O’Reilly is talented, he’s more talented than me, he has more viewers, he’s a better communicator than I am,” Carlson, who at the time was a commentator on CNN’s “Crossfire,” said, “but I think there deep phoniness at the center of his schtick, and again when I say schtick is built on the understanding that it is the character he is playing.
Here’s a link from Twitter user Ron Filipowski.
Although Carlson’s comments may seem somewhat critical of O’Reilly, Political columnist Jack Shafer notes that “With a little tweaking, this assessment of O’Reilly can be cut and tapered to suit Carlson.”
Twitter users seem to agree with that take.
Actually, Carlson is sometimes honest about lying.
In September 2021, the Fox News host admitted to conservative media host Dave Rubin that he sometimes lies on his show.
“I mean, I lied that I was really a corner or something,” Carlson admitted. “I lied. I really try not to. I try not to lie on TV. I just don’t – I don’t like to lie. I must have done it, you know, out of weakness or something.
In 2020, Fox News won a defamation lawsuit against Carlson successfully arguing that “given Mr. Carlson’s reputation, a reasonable audience” came.[s] with an appropriate amount of skepticism about the claims it makes,” according to NPR.