Fox News host Tucker Carlson erupted after a guest on his show on Tuesday night corrected how he pronounced Kamala Harris’ name.
The moment: Democratic political consultant Richard Goodstein appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” to discuss Joe Biden’s announcement earlier in the day that Harris, a California senator, would be his running mate on the Democratic presidential ticket.
Goodstein at one point interrupted Carlson to inform him that Harris’ first name is pronounced “‘comma’ — like the pronunciation mark — ‘la.'”
- Tucker’s pushback: “OK … so what?” Carlson responded.
- Respect her authority: “Out of respect for somebody who’s going to be on the national ticket, pronouncing her name right is actually kind of a bare minimum,” Goodstein said.
- “So it begins”: “OK, so I’m disrespecting her by mispronouncing her name unintentionally?” Carlson said. “So it begins. You’re not allowed to criticize Ka-MAL-la Harris, or KAM-ala Harris, or whatever.”
- No Spin Zone: “I love the idea that she’s immune from criticism,” the host continued. “On this show, nobody is immune from criticism. Our political leaders must be held to account.”
The reaction: A number of Democrats and liberal journalists on Twitter subsequently sided with Goodstein, and in some cases took his allegations further.
CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy accused Carlson of intentionally mispronouncing Harris’ name.
Journalist Touré, a former MSNBC contributor, said Carlson was clearly showing “disrespect” to the Democrat.
Daily Beast editor-at-large Molly Jong-Fast was among those who suggested Carlson’s syllabic emphasis was an expression of racism.
Biden’s campaign and women’s groups had sought to preempt what they predicted would be sexist and racist attacks on the Democratic vice presidential pick even before Harris, who is black, was named to the job.
- But the Trump campaign on Tuesday pushed ahead with attacks on Harris as a power-hungry “phony” who seeks to govern the country in place of Biden and on behalf of the “radical left.”
- An anonymous source told the Daily Beast the campaign would not be deterred by allegations of sexism, which he said were inevitable.
