Conservative influencers and show hosts are blasting former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for his October 27 interview with white nationalist
Jack Wheatley at MMFA:
Conservative influencers and show hosts are blasting former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for his October 27 interview with white nationalist streamer and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. Following the episode’s release, right-wing pundits and podcasters called the collaboration “sick” and “simply despicable,” with some labeling his movement as “anti-Semitic, hateful freaks,” and characterizing the event as disrespectful to the legacy of Charlie Kirk. After Kevin Roberts, the leader of the conservative Heritage Foundation, released a video criticizing the “venomous coalition” who have attacked Carlson for hosting Fuentes, his video also received broad condemnation from members of right-wing media. Alternatively, some right-wing media figures and influencers celebrated the interview, calling it a “must watch.”
Carlson yet again mainstreamed extremism by interviewing Fuentes for two-plus hours, adding another appearance to Fuentes’ right-leaning podcast tour
On October 27, Carlson interviewed Fuentes on his online show, where they spent two-plus hours discussing Fuentes’ beginnings and finding common ground over their shared disdain on topics including right-wing Jews, Christian Zionists, and liberal women. The two had been feuding ahead of the interview. [Twitter/X, 10/27/25; Media Matters, 10/28/25; Salon, 8/4/25]
Between June and October, Fuentes appeared on at least nine right-leaning podcasts and streaming shows — including some that don’t identify themselves as focused on news and politics — whose episodes earned over 7.2 million views on various social media platforms. On his tour of shows including PBD Podcast, Stay Free with Russell Brand, the Nelk Boys’ Kick stream, and System Update with Glenn Greenwald, Fuentes has made comments such as “race is real” — an echo of his past commentary pushing “the idea that race is a biological reality” — and “Jewish people are an extraordinarily privileged group in America.” [Media Matters, 10/2/25]
Fuentes is a white nationalist livestreamer who has peddled Holocaust denial, racism, misogyny, and election denial. On his show, America First, which he streams on Rumble, Fuentes has crafted his persona around his disdain for Jewish people, telling his audience, “I’m just like Hitler.” He has also argued that “Blacks need to be imprisoned for the most part.” [The New York Times, 9/9/25; Southern Poverty Law Center, accessed 10/30/25; Media Matters, 3/31/25]
Carlson has a history of helping draw far-right conspiracy theories and white nationalist ideology into mainstream right-wing politics, most notably helping mainstream the white nationalist great replacement theory. After leaving Fox, he pushed even more radical rhetoric, promoting Hitler apologia and explicit antisemitism. [Media Matters, 10/28/25, 10/28/18, 9/4/24, 11/21/23]
Following Charlie Kirk’s killing, Carlson has been receiving criticism from right-wing figures for remarks he made during Turning Point USA-affiliated events, and Fuentes has claimed that before his death Kirk “started to agree with me.” At least one critic said Carlson’s eulogy of Kirk “spread antisemitic blood libels,” and right-wing commentator Megan McCain said of comments Carlson made at another TPUSA event, “Every single thing about this is the polar opposite of how Charlie Kirk debated people who disagreed with him.” On October 29, Fuentes remarked on his show, “I would bet you a lot of money that if Charlie Kirk lived a little bit longer, he would have brought me to Turning Point as well,” claiming, “Two days before Charlie Kirk died, he started to agree with me.” [The Hill, 9/22/25; MSNBC, 9/25/25; Entertainment Weekly, 10/25/25; Rumble, America First, 10/29/25]
On October 30, Kevin Roberts, president of the right-wing Heritage Foundation, released a video in support of Carlson amid the criticism he’s received for his interview with Fuentes. Roberts called those who have spoken out against Carlson a “venomous coalition” and stated that Carlson remains a “close friend” to Heritage and “always will be.” He added: “I disagree with and even abhor things that Nick Fuentes says, but canceling him is not the answer either.” Following criticism for his comments, Roberts appeared on The Dana Show the next day and posted again, saying that he and the Heritage Foundation “denounce and stand against his [Fuentes’] vicious antisemitic ideology, his Holocaust denial, and his relentless conspiracy theories that echo the darkest chapters of history,” and emphasizing that “the best way to fight antisemitic ideas was to challenge them head on.” During the appearance, host Dana Loesch asked if Carlson had pushed back enough during the interview and in response, Roberts questioned if Carlson “in hindsight wishes that” he pushed back more but claimed that “there were parts of that interview ... that Tucker pushed back on.” According to Roberts, “Even if you or I would choose to push back on every single one of those things, which is what I would do if I had someone like that on my show, which I would not, that it doesn’t mean therefore that we ought to cancel not just Fuentes, but Tucker Carlson as well. We actually ought to be engaged in that conversation.” [Twitter/X, 10/30/25, 10/31/25; The First, The Dana Show, 10/31/25]
Tucker Carlson’s interview with white nationalist and antisemite Nick Fuentes has drawn criticism from many in the right-wing media. However, some have praised the interview.
