Tucker Carlson once bragged on national television about the time he and a buddy beat up a gay man in a bathroom. Yikes.
In 2007, back when George W. Bush was still president, DADT was still firmly in place, and marriage equality was years away from becoming the law of the land, Carlson went on MSNBC Live to brag about the time he assaulted the man.
“Having sex in a public men’s room is outrageous,” Carlson said. “It’s also really common.”
Then he added, “I’ve been bothered in men’s rooms.”
How about we take this to the next level?
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Carlson went on to explain that the incident happened back when he was in high school and living in Washington, D.C.’s Georgetown Park neighborhood.
“People should knock that off,” Carlson ranted. “I’m not anti-gay in the slightest, but that’s really common, and the gay rights groups ought to disavow that kind of crap because, you know, that actually does bother people who didn’t ask for being bothered.”
When another guest on the show asked Carlson how he responded, he replied, “I went back with someone I knew and grabbed the guy by the–you know–and grabbed him and hit him against the stall with his head, actually. And then the cops came and arrested him.”
Did you catch that? Carlson left the premises to find a friend. Then the two of them returned to the scene to beat the guy up. And then they called the police.
He concluded by saying, “But let me say that I’m the least anti-gay right-winger you’ll ever meet.”
After the segment aired, Carlson issued a statement to Media Matters clarifying what happened, in which he tried toning down the gash bashing part by saying he and his friend merely “seized” the man who had come onto him:
Let me be clear about an incident I referred to on MSNBC last night: In the mid-1980s, while I was a high school student, a man physically grabbed me in a men’s room in Washington, DC. I yelled, pulled away from him and ran out of the room. Twenty-five minutes later, a friend of mine and I returned to the men’s room. The man was still there, presumably waiting to do to someone else what he had done to me. My friend and I seized the man and held him until a security guard arrived.
Several bloggers have characterized this is a sort of gay bashing. That’s absurd, and an insult to anybody who has fought back against an unsolicited sexual attack. I wasn’t angry with the man because he was gay. I was angry because he assaulted me.
Get ready, folks. This is the guy who will now be poisoning the thoughts of all your crazy uncles, reclusive grandfathers, and unsupportive in-laws every night on television.
Related: People are so heartbroken Bill O’Reilly got fired, they’re celebrating like it’s New Year’s
KaiserVonScheiss
Can you prove his story wrong?
You’re accusing a man of gay bashing who was possibly sexually assaulted in a public restroom.
This is clearly a hit piece and nothing more.
ChrisK
Funny that the assault wasn’t brought up till he got lots of heat for bashing the guy. This was a planned assault on the guy and he needed friends to help him. What a POS and total wimp as well.
This is akin to the gay panic defense used before. I didn’t mean to kill the fag but he was looking at me like he wanted to have sex and I just freaked out and started stabbing him over and over.
Brian
It’s not a “hit piece.” He volunteered the information. He shared the story unsolicited and unprompted, and then he got caught in his own mess. I can’t help but marvel at the level of contortion necessary to spin ugly stories into victimhood and sympathy. Dumb people will believe anything, no critical thinking skills necessary anymore.
1898
“Accusing” him? How is it an “accusation” if he’s the one who told voluntarily made the story public before anyone else ever knew about it?
If you say that you like Krispy Kreme donuts, and I tell someone else that you like Krispy Kreme donuts, am I “accusing” you of liking Krispy Kreme donuts?
NateOcean
Carlson told the story, and it was reported as fact.
Only after his alleged actions were correctly characterized as an illegal assault, did he back-peddle. What a coward.
lostom1
I am a gay man and the same thing happened to my brother, I was with him. We detained the old pervert until the cops came. Did we kick him around yes was I gay bashing no!
Mo Bro
A hit piece? By Queerty? Against Fox News?
Why, that’s just CRAZY talk.
natekerchel
Again Kaiser? – defending another right wing extremist. The fact that he changed his story when he realised what he had said, is evidence enough. For all you know he made up the whole story about being sexually assaulted to excuse his behaviour. I don’t know what happened. What I do know is that he lied at some point about what really happened. Why the lie? He was very clear – ‘grabbed the guy by the–you know–and grabbed him and hit him against the stall with his head, actually. And then the cops came and arrested him.’ That is a detail which you just don’t say by accident. Leaving the place and coming back 20 minutes later is already deeply suspicious. It shows intent. His story reminds me of criminals who change their stories when they realise they have unwittingly incriminated themselves . No one here knows exactly what happened – it is a question of looking at what he said at the time and how he changed it when he realised the implications.
ChrisK
Seems like it would be pretty easy to find the police record at least. Especially since Carlson should’ve been the one arrested.
Scott Rose
Will Tucker Carlson be inviting Larry Craig onto his show to discuss this?
greybat
He probably just made the whole thing up, to prove to the Chosen that’s he not a Homophobe, so neither are they!
Prax07
So this douche wasn’t? man enough to stand up to a single gay man, he had to run away to recruit another guy to go back and assault the gay guy that came onto him? What a scumbag. Hope he gets beat up by two gay guys the next time he enters a public toilets again.
nunya
If there are two gay guys in a public restroom together chances are they’ll be too busy to notice anyone else.
1EqualityUSA
Nunya, troll. Just because they’re gay doesn’t mean they are doing anything other than using the bathroom, hater. These trolls have sprouted another generation on Queerty. Lice, eggs, lice, grandparents, lice, more eggs. Three generations of trolls. Is this the place to bash now? Pathetic creatures.
1EqualityUSA
You wear bow ties.
NateOcean
Q: “Does Tucker Carlson still wear his bow tie?”
A: “Yes, but you don’t want to know where.”
1EqualityUSA
It’s a look.
KaiserVonScheiss
First off, it is a hit piece. The headline, “Bill O’Reilly’s replacement Tucker Carlson once beat up a gay guy who ‘bothered’ him,” is clearly written to imply that Carlson is a gay basher when there is no evidence to prove it.
There are two different claims here, and no one other than those involved know which one is true. This is all part of the paranoid, all-right-wingers-are-bigots narrative that the regressive mainstream left has come up with.
1898
The left doesn’t need to “come up” with anything. The right does it every time they open their mouths (and in the case of Tucker Carlson, telling a story voluntarily).
Scott Rose
By definition, the “Alt Right” is comprised of bigots.
The name comes from the German word for old — alt. And it was deliberately used to invoke Nazism. Why do you think alt right leader Spencer gave the Hitler salute and yelled “Hail Trump” when Trump was elected?
KaiserVonScheiss
@Scott Rose
Who said anything about the alt right?
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
Genius move, Queerty — attack this POS by being an apologist for the (allegedly) predatory behaviour of an worse POS
PRINCE OF SNARKNESS aka DIVKID
*even worse
DCguy
Oh look, one of Mo Bros other screenames, (@KaiserVonScheiss)
Is defending somebody who illegally physically assaulted a gay man. And yet he cries and screams that Trump or his wife are being bullied and assaulted if anybody even speaks about them.
That is the right wing in a nutshell, it’s ok if they kill you or put you in the hospital for bigoted reasons, but if anybody mentions it, then the right wing attackers are the poor picked on victims.
Here’s an idea Mo and all his other screenames, if you don’t want to give away your Troll status so easily, you may want to avoid the posts where you defend illegal assault and batter just because a Republican did it. Just a suggestion.
KaiserVonScheiss
“And yet he cries and screams that Trump or his wife are being bullied and assaulted if anybody even speaks about them.”
I never said any such thing.
1EqualityUSA
The next time an eagle named, “Uncle Sam,” slaps a candidate with its wings, more will take notice.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdC3ETaiOHc
dean089
All this blah blah about Fox News is reminiscent of when people got their undies in a bunch because the Duck Dynasty rednecks said redneck things. What part of FOX NEWS is difficult to understand? It’s not like someone on ‘Sesame Street’ turned out to be a child molester. This is Fox News, the voice of the Far Right and home of bigotry, misogyny, racism, etc. Some people need to get a grip. All these attacks on Bill O’Reilly, and now Tucker Carlson, will only embolden the hard-core Fox News fans and reinforce their beliefs.
1EqualityUSA
What needs to change is the blocks, the hindrance of CNN and MSNBC up in mountains or out in boonies. Faux Noise is the only choice many of the cable companies offer. If there’s only one cable company servicing the area, Faux and Friends will be informing the community. Why is this? Why aren’t more liberal channels being offered? What are they afraid of?
DCguy
I love it when people basically say “Don’t say anything because it will upset the other side”.
If we had stuck to that we would still be in a country where being lgbt was illegal, where interracial marriage was illegal and where women couldn’t vote.
1EqualityUSA
Tucker Carlson disagreed with the judicial branch dealing with marriage equality, preferring to have other American citizens voting on our inalienable rights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SucLUBdGwpU
DCguy
IT’s funny that as soon as this guy got attacked for his comments he used the old stand-by for any right winger.
Um…..duhhhhh, a gay guy hit on me! Because of course in right wing world, somebody being gay is reason enough to beat them, so of course one FLIRTING with you must excuse ANYTHING right?!
Yeah…..ok….suuuuuuuuuure.
Just another bigot trying to flail about and find an excuse to defend his bigotry.
barkomatic
I don’t think it counts as gay bashing if someone sexually assaults you–especially if you are a high school kid. (I’m basing this on what Carlson said, since that’s all we have to work with but I could certainly change my view if additional information is provided.)
Should he have gone back with his friend and roughed the guy up? Nope. Again, we are talking about a high school kid in an emotionally charged situation in which *he* was allegedly assaulted. Since we are currently in a society in which the claims of sexual assault victims are to be believed unless proven otherwise, then his actions can be forgiven.
GaybyGod
He was in HIGHSCHOOL. The man in the bathroom, sexually assalted him. Since when have the LGBT community backed up pediophiles!
ChrisK
Nice try but I’ll go with his original story. No assault happened because the cops would have arrested him for assault.
Ken A.
Why isn’t anyone denouncing unwelcomed advances., Tucker, then in high school, used public facilities to relieve himself was advanced upon by someone. He obviously didn’t want it and it scared him. This isn’t gay bashing. This is a scared teenager. He needed the help of a friend because he must have been weak. Many people don’t like being making advances on them.
happy50132003
Gay men should not be in a public bathroom approaching men that are not interested in having sex with them. Sorry but I agree with Tucker that he felt he had to stop the man from approaching other men. This article was poorly written and was written as slanted against Tucker. I hate any article that is written
with an opinion and slanted against anyone. Report the news and keep your opinions to yourself.
1898
his remedy was to contact the police, not to go back and take justice into his own hands
1EqualityUSA
Those are fully-formed frontal lobes talking.
mhoffman953
The left is amazing at mental gymnastics
Yesterday, the left hates Bill O’Reilly for his unwanted sexual advances on victims and now today the left hates Tucker Carlson for fighting back against a man who tried to sexually assault him as a teenager.
I see nothing wrong with what Tucker did as a teenager. He got out of a bad situation then returned with a teenage friend to detain a sexually deviant adult until police arrived.
Tucker’s comments about the left not disavowing these people is accurate, just read the comments on here. People in the comments are defending an adult male who preyed on a teenage boy in a public bathroom by saying Tucker is in the wrong here, even the author of the article puts bothered in quotations as if Tucker should’ve let the adult male fondle him.
Any adult who preys on a teenager in a bathroom, deserves to get roughed up. Why would anyone want to hook up in a public bathroom that reeks of feces anyways?
natekerchel
The difference is that there is absolutely no evidence this man was ‘assaulted’ by anyone. It is just him who claims it in order to justify his assaulting a gay man. His whole story stinks of lies. The fact that he changed his story is one of the few ‘facts’ we have and that is what makes the whole story suspicious. And for the guy who tried to say we are defending pedophiles – I suggest you go and get a better understanding of what that pedophile means. I would be prepared to believe that he made up the whole story to look good in front of his homophobic right wing bully boy friends – but realised too late the implication of what he was saying. He just made it worse by mentioning details like coming back 20 minutes later with a friend – his intent was clear if that is what happened. Either way, he is not credible. As soon as he told the lie he lost integrity.
mhoffman953
@natekerchel
LOL so because someone recounts being sexually assaulted, you don’t want to believe the victims and instead sympathize with the attacker?
I have a strong feeling that if this was a left-wing political commentator, you’d quickly believe everything they said.
But no. How dare a teenager who was grabbed in a bathroom go seek help and go back to the area to confront their attacker with help on their side until the police arrive, right?
BlackDARPA85
Like Nancy answered I’m amazed that any body able to earn $8894 in 4 weeks on the computer . browse around this
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harrisonca
I went to Country Day with Tucker and was already out in high school. I always thought Tucker was gay. This may be him covering his tracks
inbama
Yep.
He was trying to “butch up” his image and got lost in all the smoke.
Kind of like Sean Spencer and the “Holocaust Centers.”
Mo Bro
Funny how gay liberals believe the worst insult they can degrade someone with is to accuse him of being gay.
ChrisK
You ever watched the documentary Outrage. It was about closeted conservative politicians who lobby for anti-gay legislation in the U.S. Saying that you like to bash gay men would definitely be a sign.
Mo Bro
FYI, Caitlyn Jenner will be on Tucker Carlson’s show on Monday to explain the snottiness of liberal gays when it comes to judging people on their politics and not their individualism.
1898
i’m sure all three of the viewers will find that segment very enlightening
Mo Bro
@1898:
Check out Tucker’s ratings next week up against Chris Hayes or Anderson Cooper, and I’m sure the numbers will leave you sufficiently suicidal.
natekerchel
mhoffman – you repeat his story like it was a proven fact – it is not. It is only a claim he made to justify assaulting someone. You and I dont know what happened. But the psychology of it all says he is lying about something. Not just the psychology – he did lie y changing his story to get himself out of trouble. So dont tell me I am attacking a poor victim – there is no proof he was a victim of any kind. But you are prepared to accept his stereotyping of gay men yet again as predatory and violent with not a jot of evidence. I at least say I dont know what happened. My conclusion is based on his own words and behaviour and the total lack of any evidence. You seem overly keen to attack the gay man who cannot defend himself.
mhoffman953
@natekerchel Whether the sexual attacker is gay or not is irrelevant. I don’t defend adults who prey on children or teens. If any person is in the situation of being sexually assaulted in a public bathroom, I don’t cry because the attacker “cannot defend himself” as you did.
There are a small number of gay men who decide to use public bathrooms for cruising and that is wrong. I’m not going to pull the victim card when someone gets assaulted or arrested for unwanted advances or even public indecency.
I bet you are keen to attack Bill O’Reilly and call him guilty over his behavior at work even though you have not a jot of evidence in regards to what he actually did or don’t know what happened.
JamJewel
Call me a skeptic! Until he identifies the ‘friend’ and shows me the arrest report, I will not believe it happened. Then, proof that the guy was gay. For all we know, it could have been a pedophile. We know people tend to confuse the two.
Juanjo
There is no proof that this so-called sexual assault took place is there? If it did and as this loud mouth claims they “detained” the man until cops arrived then there is a record somewhere. Where specifically was this? Where was this bathroom? What was the date? Who was this friend? If cops arrested this alleged assailant, there is an arrest record somewhere which will match the date and place and list loudmouth as the victim. As an attorney I know those records exist. I have done motions for people who much later in life needed to resolve arrests they suffered when young because it comes up when they are changing jobs, applying for a bonded position etc.
So all we have is a loud mouth braggart who claims he was “assaulted” by a gay man. Her escaped and instead of contacting a cop and pointing the alleged assailant out to the cops, he goes and gets a buddy. Then depending on which story you want to believe they roughed the guy up or they simply held him until the cops arrived.
I am calling bull shit on the story
Bighorner
I love how one sided and slanderous this is! The author conveniently leaves out how the “victim” was most likely asking a high school student for sex in a bathroom (which would most likely make Tucker a minor at that time). The author actually assumed the “victim” is gay, but in their defense, so did Tucker. The the author makes the assumption that only the weird losers watch Tucker. I also love outraged the author is pretending to be over an incident that occurred decades ago, and one that was committed by a high school student. So is Tucked supposed to be f# for the rest of his life because he did something stupid (when some creep tried to blow him in a bathroom) when he was a teenager? Of course the author thinks so, not because the author feels morally obligated to do so, but because it helps silence his political foes.
Are people so dumb that they can’t tell when someone is trying to manipulate them?
natekerchel
mhoffman You are usually he one demanding evidence. Still not being realistic – you have not yet admitted that this man has produced not a jot of evidence for his story – yet you talk like it is absolutely proved. Implying that I am defending a pedophile will not wash either. As I said before – go and look at what pedophile means. It refers to pre-pubescent children. It simply defies any kind of logic to automatically assume this man is telling the truth when he can offer no evidence at all. All of us are entitled to due process – not just some guys claim. I find it odd that you prepared to just take this mans word that this took place and where yet again a gay man is made out to be a monster. I can understand that coming from a homphobe. But you, forever the ‘evidence’ demander, accepts the story with no evidence at all. Why?
mhoffman953
@natekerchel I never used the word pedophile. Find where in my comments where I said pedophile and post it. That’s marks another claim which you allege I said, when I never said such a thing.
I also stick by my previous comments, that if the story is true, then Tucker was 100% right in his actions, in my opinion. Why would Tucker just randomly target a guy in a bathroom to rough up with no prior context?
People shouldn’t be attacked physically for no reason just as people shouldn’t be sexually assaulted, especially teenage boys.
dustashed
He was assaulted. I think he had a right to defend himself and yes ask for help to serve that guy some well deserved justice if the story is really how he says it happened.
Guys (gay or straight) often forget the element of on going “consent”. I hate gay guys who just grope you in the middle of a crowded street (yes that happens in my country) and other people just smirk or laugh at you (the victim).
oz1967
Why the surprise? we know the network he works for and their long history of being homophobic and misogynistic asshats.
natekerchel
mhoffman – there is nothing rational that anyone can say to you that you will accept apparently. You persist in claiming the story ids true with not one jot of evidence to back it up. You then try and deflect from this lack of proof by constantly talking about schoolboys being assaulted to make us feel that we have no right to question this story. Or you pick out a word or phrase and ask where you used it. Its your usual style of deflection.
‘Why would Tucker just randomly target a guy in a bathroom to rough up with no prior context’? – you dont know that anything of the sort happened in the first place – the whole story could have been made up to make himself look good in front of his right wing homophobic friends.
The difference between you and me is that I dont claim to know what happened – all I say is that the story is so full of holes that it is very unlikely to have happened in the way he said – in two different ways I remind you. NO ONE on this site can say they know he is telling the truth or lies for sure. It is a question of judgement based on what we know. But yet again you rush to the side of the homophobes – its becoming clearer to me why people here think you are not gay at all. And before you revert to the old tired saying about gay men not all thinking the same – I never said they should. But there is a difference between being objective and immediately always taking the side of the homophobes – which is what you tend to do.
1EqualityUSA
Deprive it of oxygen, friend. Every time you write to this clown, it’s like pouring out a big bowl of lightly sweetened cereal for him. “MHo” is as far as I get before moving on. It’s lonely, miserable, retired, and looking for someone to take its views seriously. It undermines the gay community at every turn. Deprive it of oxygen, and it will infest some other site. Mormons latch on and do not let go. Shake it off, hold a cigarette butt to it until it backs out counterclockwise, excise the parasite, head and all. Must go now. Have fun today.
emily44568798
just as Benjamin responded I’m startled that a mother can make $9059 in one month on the internet . Get the facts
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mhoffman953
@natekerchel I have no reason to doubt his claims considering the area he mentioned is known for cruising just by doing some Google searches on it and when you say “the whole story could have been made up to make himself look good in front of his right wing homophobic friends”, I doubt the hosts on an MSNBC show are right wing homophobes.
And your claim that I “always take the side of the homophobe” is false (just like the myriad of other false claims you’ve made about me from supporting the Iraq war which I never did, from saying George Bush is my hero when I never supported Bush, from saying I called the attacker in this article a pedophile when I never did, etc). But no one can ever have a real conversation about real issues with people like you because you automatically dismiss them and their viewpoints. That seems to be your general line of attack though, just call everyone you don’t like a homophobe, islamophobe, xenophobe, etc.
I don’t defend sexual assault of teenagers or children or make excuses for the person who assaulted them.
And again, if the story is true, then in my opinion, Tucker was right in what he did. Let’s pretend for a second that the story is 100% true, hypothetically, do you agree with Tucker’s actions in this situation or do you sympathize with the guy who preyed on a teenager in a bathroom? (I have a feeling that you’ll avoid that question and talk all around it)
@1EqualityUSA Why are you saying I’m Mormon? I guess you haven’t changed by now calling people you don’t like ‘parasites’. Last time you attacked me. you tried to make fun of disabled children by comparing the people you don’t agree with to disabled children riding on a short bus to school.
But those are leftists tactics, try to act holier than thou.
Sluggo2007
“I’ve been bothered in men’s rooms.” Sounds like wishful thinking to me. Besides, when he went back with a “friend” to confront the perp, he grabbed him by the “you know.” Give me a break!