Whether he's drumming up hatred for non-white immigrants or promoting white supremacist conspiracy theories to his millions of viewers, far-right Fox News host Tucker Carlson is infamous for his harmful and deluded diatribes.
Most recently, Carlson complained about the paternity leave of Transportation Department Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Buttigieg and his husband Chasten recently adopted children, and Buttigieg has been off for two months in order to help the latest members of his family get acquainted with their new lives.
Carlson slammed Buttigieg for taking this time, and made a homophobic attempt at a joke in the process.
Watch below.
Carlson said:
"'Pete Buttigieg has been on leave from his job since August after adopting a child. Paternity leave,' they call it, Trying to figure out how to breastfeed. No word on how that went."
The pundit's comments received widespread backlash.
Buttigieg, known for his calm but devastating comebacks, used the viral moment to advocate for paid family leave, a key component in Biden's infrastructure agenda currently stalling in Congress.
Watch below.
Transportation Sec. Pete Buttigieg uses Tucker Carlson's homophobic paternity leave slight about him to call for paid family leave:
"We're pretty much the only country left that doesn't have some kind of national policy for paid leave." pic.twitter.com/4rwa3hJA42
— The Recount (@therecount) October 17, 2021
Buttigieg told CNN's Jake Tapper:
"As you might imagine, we're bottle feeding, and doing it at all hours of the day and night. I'm not going to apologize to Tucker Carlson or anyone else for taking care of my premature infant newborn twins. The work that we are doing is joyful, fulfilling, wonderful work. It's important work, and it's work that every American ought to be able to do when they welcome a new child into their family. ... The Build Back Better agenda includes provisions for paid family leave.
...
It's long past time to make it possible for every American mother and father to take care of their children when a new child arrives in the family.""
People praised the Transportation Secretary's response.
Carlson's screed continues to generate backlash.
Buttigieg, however, seems unfazed.
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