Tucker Carlson claims 17-year-old charged in Kenosha shooting decided to 'maintain order when no one else would'

Updated ·2 min read

Tucker Carlson found himself the target of hundreds of thousands of Twitter users Wednesday night after the Fox News host opened Tucker Carlson Tonight by discussing the ongoing unrest in Kenosha, Wis., following the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, on Sunday. As protests raged on Tuesday night, three protesters were shot, two of them fatally. Earlier Wednesday, a 17-year-old from Illinois, Kyle Rittenhouse, was arrested and charged with homicide.

“Kenosha has devolved into anarchy because the authorities in charge of the city abandoned it. People in charge, from the governor of Wisconsin on down, refused to enforce the law. They stood back and watched Kenosha burn,” Carlson said. Although, there was an 8 p.m. curfew in Kenosha, and police can clearly be seen out in full force in videos.

The Kenosha police chief reportedly blamed the victims themselves for breaking curfew, and Carlson not only looked to deflect blame from Rittenhouse, a staunch supporter of President Trump, but he appeared to defend Rittenhouse’s actions.

“So are you really surprised that looting and arson accelerated to murder? How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would? Everyone could see what was happening in Kenosha. It was getting crazier by the hour.”

I didn’t take long for Twitter to condemn Carlson’s comments, and #firetuckercarlson started trending soon after the segment aired.

Tucker Carlson Tonight airs weeknights at 8 p.m. on Fox News Channel.

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