Far-right Fox News host Tucker Carlson has used his primetime slot to encourage vaccine skepticism and conspiracy theories regarding the pandemic that's killed over 600 thousand people.
This week, Carlson amplified the conspiracy theory that Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases and a favorite enemy of the right-wing, "created" the virus.
Watch below.
Tucker Carlson casually says Dr Fauci "created" Covid (Dr Fauci did not create Covid)pic.twitter.com/QKNH64yiHc— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1627518412
Referring to Fauci, Carlson said:
"Take it from the guy who created COVID. Watch this."
The delusion that Fauci is responsible for the pandemic developed after news that the National Institute of Health (NIH) funded a grant for the U.S.-based EcoHealth Alliance to study coronavirus in bats, which then conducted research with the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
Rutgers University professor Dr. Richard Ebright, claimed that research conducted between EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan Institute on bat coronaviruses violated a 2014 moratorium on gain-of-function research—a claim heavily disputed by Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard molecular biologist Alina Chan.
It's also uncertain whether the virus developed out of a lab in the first place.
Fauci has emphatically, categorically denied that the NIH funded any gain-of-function research, but that hasn't stopped Republican media personalities like Carlson from running wild with the claim that Fauci was responsible.
Some said Carlson's words amounted to slander—and they want Fauci to sue.
I think it\u2019s time for Dr. Fauci to sue him for slander. This is abhorrent.https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1420541296930869252\u00a0\u2026— FierceMom (@FierceMom) 1627518987
I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV (or Twitter). But could this be grounds for Dr.Fauci to sue? Slander?https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1420541296930869252\u00a0\u2026— Christine M \u26be\ufe0f\ud83c\udf2e\ud83c\udf7a\ud83d\udc08\ud83d\udc99\ud83d\udc89 (@Christine M \u26be\ufe0f\ud83c\udf2e\ud83c\udf7a\ud83d\udc08\ud83d\udc99\ud83d\udc89) 1627626283
The things people have managed to sue other people for in this country have been surprising on more than one occasion. Media is now often a major target for lawsuits (see that Kentucky kid in DC)\u2026\n\nSo how can any human with a sponsor-driven tv audience legally say THIS? https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1420541296930869252\u00a0\u2026— Liam (@Liam) 1627553041
Question for lawyers: at what point does someone sue Tucker Carlson for slander?https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1420541296930869252\u00a0\u2026— Skylar Baker-Jordan (@Skylar Baker-Jordan) 1627526262
Can Fauci just sue this guy already?https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1420541296930869252\u00a0\u2026— Shrek-sama (@Shrek-sama) 1627519082
Why can't people like Fauci sue these guys into bankruptcy?https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1420541296930869252\u00a0\u2026— Matt Johnson (@Matt Johnson) 1627518695
People were enraged by Carlson's latest lie.
Does Fox have no standards department at all? No legal department? No factcheckers? No producers or executives? Amazing that he can get away with thus Orwellian stuff on a nightly basis.https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1420541296930869252\u00a0\u2026— Mehdi Hasan (@Mehdi Hasan) 1627519211
Pretty disturbing to watch Tucker quadruple down on COVID disinformationhttps://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1420541296930869252\u00a0\u2026— Molly Jong-Fast (@Molly Jong-Fast) 1627520802
yknow this dude's said a lot of truly shocking things in the last year\nthis is an easy top 5https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1420541296930869252\u00a0\u2026— No Ben (@No Ben) 1627570528
It's unclear if Fauci plans to take any legal action, or if Fox will reprimand Carlson for blatant disinformation. But, if history is indication for the latter, Carlson will probably face no consequences.
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