Schumer said the network had pushed a racist theory relegated to the fringes of society into mainstream political discourse, naming Tucker Carlson as a key offender and blaming the amplification of the theory for the shooting in Buffalo, New York, over the weekend.
“I write to urge you to immediately cease the reckless amplification of the so-called ‘Great Replacement’ theory on your network’s broadcasts,” Schumer wrote in a letter addressed to Fox News executives and published in the New York Times. “For years, these types of beliefs have existed at the fringes of American life. However, this pernicious theory, which has no basis in fact, has been injected into the mainstream thanks in large part to a dangerous level of amplification by your network and its anchors.”
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Schumer also cited a poll from the Associated Press that found Fox News viewers were more likely to believe the fringe theory than viewers of other networks.
“A recent AP poll found that nearly one-third of American adults believe that a group of people is trying to replace native-born Americans with immigrants for electoral gains. That same poll found that your viewers are nearly three times more likely to believe in Replacement Theory than other networks. This should come as no surprise given the central role these themes have played in your network’s programming in recent years,” the New York senator wrote.
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The Great Replacement theory is a conspiracy theory that elites in society are planning to replace White citizens with non-White people. The racist hypothesis has drawn fame again following the Buffalo shooting on Saturday, in which 10 people were killed, and three others were wounded in a predominantly Black neighborhood in Buffalo. The suspected shooter, an 18-year-old White male, supposedly penned a manifesto based on the ideology.
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Several Democrats and Liberal commentators have pointed the finger at Fox News, accusing the network and Carlson of pushing the theory. When asked for remarks, Fox News directed the Washington Examiner to Carlson’s response on his show, in which he condemned the shooter as “racist, bitterly so” and called for a renewed focus on the victims.
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“There is only one answer to rising racial tension, and that is to de-escalate and do what we have done and tried to do for hundreds of years, which is work toward colorblind meritocracy, and treat people as human beings created by God, rather than as faceless members of interest groups that might benefit some political party or other. We have a moral duty to do this because all people have equal moral value, no matter what they look like. All lives matter. Period,” Carlson responded on his show to the allegations.