Fox News’ Tuck And Roll

How bigoted does one have to be to be for Fox News to distance itself from you? Let’s ask Jeanine Pirro.

President Barack Obama once said that if he watched Fox News all day, then he’d probably be an Obama hater too. If you want to know what he’s talking about, just watch one of their star commentators, Pirro.

Pirro is angry. She delivers her commentary like a constipated conservative who just found out a bunch of gay, black Muslim flag burners had just moved into her neighborhood. On Saturday night, she was pissed at Muslim representative Ilhan Omar and questioned if her religious beliefs undermined her loyalty to the United States.

Pirro barked, “Think about it: Omar wears a hijab. Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Shariah law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?” Islam isn’t any more antithetical to the United States Constitution than Christianity. Yeah, I said it.

Fox News producer, Hufsa Kamal tweeted at Pirro, “can you stop spreading this false narrative that somehow Muslims hate America or women who wear a hijab aren’t American enough? You have Muslims working at the same network you do, including myself.” I’m not too sure how effective the please-stop-being-a-bigot technique is going to work on Pirro or any other Fox News talking head.

Fox News issued a statement 24 hours after her remarks, saying, “We strongly condemn Jeanine Pirro’s comments about Representative Ilhan Omar. They do not reflect those of the network and we have addressed the matter with her directly.”

But, as much as Fox News may insist they don’t support her comments, they were not off the cuff or spontaneous banter. They were scripted and loaded into a teleprompter.

Since narcissism is a trait shared among conservatives, Pirro didn’t apologize or admit a mistake, much like Trump can’t admit he said “Tim Apple” instead of “Tim Cook.” Pirro said, “I’ve seen a lot of comments about my opening statement from Saturday night’s show and I did not call Representative Omar un-American. My intention was to ask a question and start a debate, but of course because one is Muslim does not mean you don’t support the Constitution.” That’s true. She didn’t call her un-American. She just questioned her loyalty to the country because of her religion and her wearing of a hijab. How can anyone find bigotry in that?

Tucker Carlson hasn’t apologized or admitted a mistake either regarding comments he made between 2006 and 2011. Media Matters published posts and recordings of Carlson that were sexist and racist. Carlson issued a statement saying, “Media Matters caught me saying something naughty on a radio show more than a decade ago. Rather than express the usual ritual contrition, how about this: I’m on television every weeknight live for an hour. If you want to know what I think, you can watch. Anyone who disagrees with my views is welcome to come on and explain why.”

Carlson needs someone to explain to him why it’s wrong to defend rapists? He also complained about the “liberal mob” trying to “kill his show.”

Some of Carlson’s “naughty” comments were about Alexis Stewart, Martha Stewart’s daughter who he described as “cunty” and said, “I just wanted to give her the spanking she so desperately needs.” He also said Britney Spears and Paris Hilton were, “two of the biggest white whores in America.”

In 2006, Tucker called into the Bubba the Love Sponge show (yeah, that’s a real thing) and said, “arranging a marriage between a 16-year-old and a 27-year-old is not the same as pulling a stranger off the street and raping her.” He said of one individual who married a child, “The rapist, in this case, has made a lifelong commitment to live and take care of the person.” He also called for the elimination of rape shield laws.

He once said that a female teacher who had sex with a 13-year-old male student was, “doing a service to all 13-year-old girls by taking the pressure off.” Basically, he came off as being a really big fan of rape or at least protecting rapists.

In 2006, he said of Barack Obama, then an Illinois senator, “How is he black, for one thing? He has one white parent, one black parent.” In 2008, he called in again and described Iraq as, “a crappy place filled with a bunch of, you know, semiliterate primitive monkeys — that’s why it wasn’t worth invading,” and also claimed Iraqis didn’t use toilet paper.

There’s a lot more he said, but I don’t want it to take you all day to read this blog. If you’re that interested to see them all, scroll up and click the Media Matters link. Warning; after reading the comments you’ll feel like you just watched an hour of Jeanine Pirro and you may need to shower with a Brillo pad.

I took a little creative license with this cartoon because, according to Tucker, he stopped wearing the bow tie around 2006 because, in New York City, people were screaming and cursing at him on the subways about it.  Sure, New York City is a place that doesn’t do unconventional or weird, and they’ll scream at you for wearing a bow tie.

You look at Tucker’s track record with his racist and misogynistic comments and what kind of guy he truly is, and I don’t think it’s the bow tie they were screaming and cursing about on the subway.

Creative note: Thanks to my friends Hilary and Quannah who provided the words “shrill” and “harpy.”

The Herblock

I’ve been meaning to post about this, but each day gave me a new article to share on social media and I was kinda getting sick of myself.

I am the Finalist for the Herblock Prize, coming in second to winner Matt Davies. If you told me I was your second-favorite cartoonist behind Matt, I’d be flattered. Being honored by the Herblock Foundation in this way is truly amazing. It hasn’t sunk in yet.

This is the first time I’ve placed in one of the big national contests. I started my career in 1990, so I’ve been waiting nearly 30 years to hear my name mentioned. To everyone who’s offered congratulations and positive comments on my Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube, thank you.

To all those other cartoonists out there, let this be a lesson to you. Sleep and having a social life is overrated.

Be Complicit

You can purchase a signed print of this cartoon.

Watch the video.