Having apparently exhausted his list of human opponents, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson set his sights on a new target: Elmo.
The 51-year-old anchor unloaded on the Sesame Street character during Tuesday’s Tucker Carlson Tonight, slamming the children’s show’s recent joint town hall with CNN about the death of George Floyd and the ensuing protests that have broken out across the United States. The special, titled Coming Together: Standing Up to Racism, features a poignant, simple conversation about race between Elmo and his father, Louie.
“They [the protesters] are sad and upset, and they have every right to be,” Louie tells Elmo. “People are upset because racism is a huge problem in our country. … Not all streets are like Sesame Street. On Sesame Street, we all love and respect one another. Across the country, people of color, especially in the Black community, are being treated unfairly because of how they look, their culture, race, and who they are.”
The suggestion that some people lead harder lives based on the color of their skin proved too much for Carlson.
“It’s a children’s show,” he said angrily before sharing his own takeaway from the town hall: “America is a very bad place and it’s your fault, so no matter what happens, no matter what they do to you when you grow up, you have no right to complain. That’s the message and it starts very young.”
Twitter users wasted no time in roasting Carlson for punching down at the beloved puppet.
“It’s weird that Tucker Carlson is angry at Elmo because you’d think he’d be able to relate to the perspective of a television personality with something up their ass,” Charlotte Clymer tweeted.
Carlson even amused Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), who tweeted, “Everyone in the streets combating racism has Tucker ‘Chicken Heir’ Carlson so mad he’s accusing Elmo of being Antifa,” with a tears of laughter emoji.
Perhaps Carlson should write to the producers of Sesame Street about making some new programs with no discussions of race whatsoever. They can air on Ben Shapiro’s apolitical ESPN, and the right-wing personalities can have watch parties.
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