Tucker Carlson
Ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson said his deposition in the Dominion defamation lawsuit “triggered the shit out of me” and called the lawyer who conducted it a “slimy little motherfucker,” in an expletive-laden behind-the-scenes video obtained by Media Matters.
What could have happened during the deposition that made Carlson so angry?
The lawsuit exposed Carlson’s numerous misogynistic, racist, hypocritical, and otherwise embarrassing text messages, which may have played a role in his dismissal and Fox’s record-breaking settlement. The New York Times reported on Tuesday that Dominion’s lawyers asked about one such message, redacted from the lawsuit filings, in which he described watching a video of a group of Trump supporters violently assaulting “an Antifa kid.” Carlson commented on the attack, “Jumping a guy like that is dishonorable obviously. It’s not how white men fight.” Carlson went on to write that he initially “found myself rooting for the mob against the man, hoping they’d hit him harder, kill him,” a sentiment he reported “alarm[ed]” him.
The Daily Beast previously reported that during his deposition, when asked by Dominion’s lawyer if “this wasn’t the only time you referred to [former Trump lawyer] Sidney Powell as a c**t,” Carlson replied: “You know I-I-I can’t know and I just want to apologize preemptively. I mean you’re trying to embarrass me, you’re definitely succeeding as I am embarrassed.” The exchange “loomed large in his termination,” the Beast reported, citing “people familiar with the matter.”
In the video obtained by Media Matters, Carlson is on the set of his Tucker Carlson Tonight show speaking to someone who is off-camera. He is wearing the same outfit that he did on his show on Friday, August 26, 2022, the date he was deposed in the Dominion suit.
Carlson says in the video that he had spent “10 hours” being deposed, with “that slimy little motherfucker sitting across from me.”
He goes on to describe “the hate that I felt for that guy” as “unhealthy,” claiming that in trying to nail down where Carlson lives given his multiple homes, the lawyer had been suggesting “that I was cheating on my taxes.”
“I never feel that way,” he says. “I don't want to feel that way. I think it's wrong. It's bad. It's totally bad for you to feel that way. But that guy, he triggered the shit out of me. ‘Where are you now? Where do you live?’ The amount of times I had, ‘First of all, fuck you,’ on my lips was like, it was unbelievable.”
TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): Well, that was a week, I'll say. Holy shit, 10 hours. That slimy little motherfucker sitting across from me. Oh, you're the best. And I wasn't talking about you. It's just the opposite.
OFF-SCREEN: [UNINTELLIGIBLE]
CARLSON: No, I'm not. What do you mean, because you've never been this affirmed in your life? I bet. Thank you, Alex. Have a happy weekend. See you, man. The amount, it was so unhealthy, the hate — thank you, seriously — the hate that I felt for that guy. I mean, thank you —
OFF-SCREEN: How could you not?
CARLSON: Well, I never feel that way, you know, because I don't put myself. I don't want to feel that way. I think it's wrong. It's bad. It's totally bad for you to feel that way. But that guy, he triggered the shit out of me. “Where are you now? Where do you live?” The amount of times I had, “First of all, fuck you,” on my lips was like, it was unbelievable. Suggesting that I was — that I was cheating on my taxes?
OFF-SCREEN: Really?
CARLSON: Oh, absolutely. “So where, what's — where are you domiciled? Where are you now? Do you own a home there?” I was like, No, I do not own a home.
Media Matters previously published behind-the-scenes videos in which Carlson lashed out at the Murdoch network's Fox Nation streaming service and made creepy comments on the set of his programs.
Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.
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