Recently, a white supremacist harboring beliefs in the so-called “great replacement” conspiracy theory carried out a mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, killing 10 people. Fox’s Tucker Carlson has referenced some version of the “replacement” lie over 400 times on his high-profile show. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) demanded in a new letter that Fox executives stop harboring the spread of white supremacist ideology.
The conspiratorial, false beliefs held by the Buffalo shooter and promoted in a related form by Carlson allege white Americans are being intentionally crowded out by people of other backgrounds. Of course, there’s no real-world evidence for the idea that there’s an unfolding, widespread Democratic conspiracy to specifically “replace” white Americans in the electorate and society at-large, although Carlson spoke of what he called the “the replacement of legacy Americans with more obedient people from far away countries,” saying: “They brag about it all the time, but if you dare to say it’s happening they will scream at you with maximum hysteria.” “More obedient people”? The notion that people from far-flung places are “more obedient” obviously hinges on nothing in the real world but racism.
We hold in our hearts every single New Yorker whose life was tragically cut short during the horrific attack in Buffalo.
Tomorrow, I will join @POTUS, @FLOTUS, and others to travel to Buffalo to pay my respects to them, and to mourn with the families and the community.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) May 16, 2022
“I write to urge you to immediately cease the reckless amplification of the so-called “Great Replacement” theory on your network’s broadcasts,” Schumer wrote to Fox execs in a letter copied to Carlson. “Proponents of this white nationalist, far-right conspiracy theory believe that a complicit or cooperative class of elites are advancing a plot designed to undermine the political power and culture of white Americans. For years, these types of beliefs have existed at the fringes of American life. However, this pernicious theory, which has no basis in fact, has been injected into the mainstream thanks in large part to a dangerous level of amplification by your network and its anchors.”
It's not enough for outlets like Fox News and hosts like Tucker Carlson to just condemn Saturday’s violence and the shooter’s racist views—then return to regularly-scheduled programming.
They need to stop spreading dangerous racist lies like replacement theory on their shows.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) May 16, 2022
Referencing recent racism-driven incidents including the 2019 mass shooting at an El Paso Wal-Mart that killed 23 and the Buffalo violence, Schumer added: “These incidents alone, to say nothing of the many more which have occurred in recent years, have led to dozens of lives being lost and countless others irreversibly impacted. The devastation and despair that families and communities feel in the wake of these incidents cannot be overstated. For instance, my constituents in east Buffalo who will be forced to relive this tragic event every single time they visit the supermarket for a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk. It is on their behalf, and on behalf of the residents of communities in Pittsburgh, El Paso, and cities around the country who bear the consequences of this hateful ideology that I write you.” Schumer said that he’d been invited on Carlson’s show on Tuesday to discuss the letter, but the Democratic leader declined. Carlson obviously isn’t known for fostering legitimately constructive discussion environments. With him — it’s mostly ranting.
.@TuckerCarlson invited me on his show tonight to debate the letter I sent to @FoxNews.
I'm declining. Tucker Carlson needs to stop promoting the racist, dangerous ‘Replacement Theory’.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) May 17, 2022
