The official Twitter accounts for Fox News and Fox Business are boycotting Twitter after it allowed a tweet with the home address of host Tucker Carlson to linger for hours on the platform last week. Neither Fox News nor Fox Business has tweeted since November 9.
According to The Hill, a Fox News source confirmed that the decision to launch a Twitter blackout “was due to its unresponsiveness to the network’s requests to expunge content related to the Carlson protest outside his home, which it deemed dangerous.” Fox News has also instructed its employees to refrain from posting on the platform. All but one employee has complied with the order.
Last Wednesday night, a group of Antifa agitators reportedly gathered outside of Carlson’s Washington, D.C. home where they terrified his wife and vandalized property.
“BREAKING. Activists ring doorbell, hold protest at the Washington D.C. area home of @TuckerCarlson, racist, sexist, bigoted FOX News personality. So far no one has opened the door,” the antifa group Smash Racism DC tweeted during the protest.
Included in the tweet was video footage showing the mob chanting, “Racist scumbag, leave town!” and “Tucker Carlson, we will fight! We know where you sleep at night!”
“Every night you spread fear into our homes—fear of the other, fear of us, and fear of them. Each night you tell us we are not safe. Tonight you’re reminded that we have a voice,” the group wrote in another tweet. “Tonight, we remind you that you are not safe either.”
According to Carlson, his wife, who was home alone at the time, feared it was a home invasion and locked herself in the pantry until police arrived.
Washington, D.C. police said in a statement to The Hill last week that they were launching a criminal investigation into the group’s “unlawful actions.”
“Last night, a group of protesters broke the law by defacing private property at a Northwest, DC residence,” the statement said. “MPD takes these violations seriously, and we will work to hold those accountable for their unlawful actions. There is currently an open criminal investigation regarding this matter.”
Fox News is reportedly upset with Twitter because it allowed a Smash Racism tweet showing the family’s address to stay up for hours when it should have been taken down immediately.
“A Fox News employee tells me Fox is choosing to stay silent while protesting how Twitter handled posts targeting Tucker Carlson — specifically the ones that included his address,” Tribune content manager Scott Gustin posted last Friday.
The @FoxNews Twitter account has been silent for over 24 hours. A Fox News employee tells me Fox is choosing to stay silent while protesting how Twitter handled posts targeting Tucker Carlson — specifically the ones that included his address. address.
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) November 10, 2018
According to The Federalist, the group attached a piece of paper with the family’s full address to Carlson’s front door during the protest. They took a photo of the address and then posted it to their Twitter account.
After many complaints, Twitter removed Smash Racism DC’s posted picture of the Carlson home address, but the other posts that included unveiled threats of “We know where you sleep at night” and “Tonight, we remind you that you are not safe either” took several hours to be removed.
“According to source, Facebook was prompt when alerted to posts that included his home address. Twitter support reportedly told Fox to ‘open a ticket’ and did not remove the posts,” Gustin explained on Twitter.
According to source, Facebook was prompt when alerted to posts that included his home address. Twitter support reportedly told Fox to "open a ticket" and did not remove the posts.
— Scott Gustin (@ScottGustin) November 10, 2018
With more than 18 million followers, the Fox News Twitter account posts around 100 times per day, and has racked up more than 418,000 tweets since joining the platform 11 years ago.
In a joint statement last Thursday, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and Fox News President Jay Wallace called the behavior of Smash Racism “reprehensible” while urging a more “civil, respectful, and inclusive national conversation.”
“We as a nation have become far too intolerant of different points of view,” said Scott and Wallace. “Recent events across our country clearly highlight the need for a more civil, respectful, and inclusive national conversation. Those of us in the media and in politics bear a special obligation to all Americans to find common ground.”
According to Business Insider, Fox News Managing Editor Greg Wilson instructed network employees to “please refrain from tweeting out our content from either section accounts or your own accounts until further notice.”
Tucker Carlson himself broke the boycott Sunday evening in order to defend himself against allegations of assault from Michael Avenatti’s latest client, “gay Latino immigrant” Juan Manuel Granados.
Last month one of my children was attacked by a stranger at dinner. For her sake, I was hoping to keep the incident private. It’s now being politicized by the Left. Here’s what happened: pic.twitter.com/rwNoFYxMFv
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) November 11, 2018
On Saturday, the anti-Trump ambulance chaser tweeted video that showed Carlson screaming “get the f*ck out” at another patron of a Virginia country club. Avenatti claimed in his tweet that “Carlson and/or members of his inner circle” assaulted Granados.
1/2 – We are investigating an alleged assault on a gay latino immigrant committed by T. Carlson and/or members of his inner circle at a club in VA in Oct. It likely includes underage drinking in violation of VA law. Link to a portion of the incident:https://t.co/QcbCRHrplP
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) November 10, 2018
Carlson admitted on Sunday that he cursed at Granados but only after man had called his teenage daughter a whore and a “f*cking c*nt.”
“Last month one of my children was attacked by a stranger at dinner,” said Carlson in his statement. “For her sake, I was hoping to keep the incident private. It’s now being politicized by the Left.”
“My son, who is also a student, went to the bar to confront the man,” Carlson wrote. “My son asked the man if he had called his sister a ‘whore’ and a ‘c–.’ The man admitted he had, and again became profane. My son threw a glass of red wine in the man’s face and told him to leave the bar, which he soon did.”
Mr. Avenatti, who posted a video of the incident apparently taken by another diner, described Mr. Carlson’s statement as an “absolute lie,” insisting Mr. Granados never cursed at the girl nor admitted to doing so.
The lawyer also Mr. Carlson’s daughter of underage drinking, his son of “assault and battery,” and a friend who joined them of “assault.”
“As a father of two teenage daughters myself, I find it disgraceful that Tucker seeks to justify his behavior by falsely hiding behind his family,” Mr. Avenatti tweeted.
The video showed Mr. Carlson yelling at a man as other diners attempted to separate them, saying, “You better get the f– out of here” and “Get the f– out of here,” but denied assaulting Mr. Granados, calling the allegation “a lie.”
“It took enormous self-control not to beat the man with a chair, which is what I wanted to do,” said Carlson. “I think any father can understand the overwhelming rage and shock that I felt seeing my teenage daughter attacked by a stranger. But I restrained myself. I did not assault this man, and neither did my son.”
Avenatti claims that Carlson told Granados, who hails from Buenos Aires, to “go back where you came from.”
But Carlson said in his statement that he didn’t know the man was gay or Latino, “not that it would have mattered. What happened on October 13 has nothing to do with identity politics.”
“It was a grotesque violation of decency. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” Carlson said.
In a lengthy statement of his own, Granados denied that he called anyone in Carlson’s party any names.
Here is a statement from my client regarding the incident with Tucker Carlson and Tucker's fabricated version of events. As a father of two teenage daughters myself, I find it disgraceful that Tucker seeks to justify his behavior by falsely hiding behind his family. #Coward pic.twitter.com/j9uX7pRdyP
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) November 11, 2018
Carlson said that after a three-week investigation, the Farmington Country Club revoked Granados’ membership.
Avenatti, whom Carlson regularly refers to as the “creepy porn lawyer,” also represented discredited Justice Brett Kavanaugh accuser Julie Swetnick.
Last month, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley referred both Avenatti and Swetnick to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation, alleging that they had made false statements to Congress.
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