A Fox News host has slammed Australia’s gun legislation, claiming that “Australia has no freedom” and people “go to prison for expressing unpopular views” there. Australians have taken to social networks to mock the statement.
Tucker Carlson, a Fox political news correspondent, denounced Australia in a discussion on gun restrictions with co-host Clayton Morris.
“The other side of that argument, that people always throw out, of course, is like: ‘Look at Australia! They don’t have gun violence, they have no guns, their citizens aren’t allowed to have guns,’” Morris said.
“They also have no freedom. You can go to prison for expressing unpopular views in Australia and people do. And in Western Europe, by the way. And in Canada. No one ever says that,” Carlton said, interrupting.
Carlson was talking about Australia's disputed laws on hate speech, which are supposed to compensate those who are the victim of discrimination or vilification on account of their race, religion, disability or sexual orientation.
Hardly anyone has been imprisoned under the legislation, though, according to a 2014 investigation.
Australians have mocked the statement on social networks.
Fox News has been previously left red-faced after some of its prominent figures’ bizarre comments.
In 2010, the channel’s prominent anchor Bill O’Reilly accused the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of “actively” aiding Al-Qaeda – all because the organization filed a lawsuit saying US citizens accused of terrorism were being denied due process.
O’Reilly also opposed the building of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York because “Muslims killed us on 9/11.”
The channel’s CEO, Roger Ailes, is notorious for his incendiary comments, too: in November 2010, he claimed National Public Radio were “Nazis” for firing a news analyst after his harsh remarks on Muslims.
“They are, of course, Nazis. They have a kind of Nazi attitude. They are the left wing of Nazism,” Ailes said.
Former Fox News host Glenn Beck made waves in 2009 when he stated that President Obama was “a racist” and had "a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture.” After his comments, 80 companies canceled adverts during Beck’s program to avoid any association, and Beck himself had to publicly apologize.