Advertisers flee Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s show as controversy grows over immigration remarks

Updated Dec 18, 7:07 PM; Posted Dec 18, 4:13 P

 

By Kristi Turnquist | The Oregonian/OregonLive

kturnquist@oregonian.com

The Oregonian/OregonLive

Controversy continues to grow in the wake of Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson’s comments about immigration, as an increasing number of companies have pulled their advertising from his show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight.” Among the sponsors who have stopped airing ads -- at least for the moment -- during “Tucker Carlson Tonight” is Bowflex, the Vancouver-based fitness equipment company.

In a statement printed on the Hollywood Reporter site, Bowflex’s parent company, Nautilus Inc., confirmed that the company has pulled its ads from the “Tucker Carlson Tonight” show.

The statement continues: “We buy media broadly across many news networks, and do not target ads based on specific programs or hosts. However, we have requested that Fox News remove our ads from airing in conjunction with Tucker Carlson Tonight in the future. Aside from our decision to remove our ads from his show, we have no other association or affiliation with Mr. Carlson.”

We’ve emailed Nautilus asking for further comment, and will share if we hear back from the Vancouver company.

Update: We have received an email statement from Bowflex, in response to our earlier query. The statement reads: “Bowflex buys media broadly across many networks. Fox News, like many of the news networks on which we advertise, is responsible for determining the time and placement of our commercials. Our advertisements will continue to air across other Fox News network programming, but have been redirected from Tucker Carlson Tonight to keep the conversation focused on helping people achieve their health and fitness goals.”

As the Wrap and other sources are reporting, companies that are not advertising on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” include NerdWallet, Minted, Pacific Life Insurance and Ancestry.com.

View image on Twitter

Pacific Life@pacificlife

A message from Pacific Life:

27K

2:47 PM - Dec 14, 2018

14K people are talking about this

Twitter Ads info and privacy

The advertiser exits have followed an episode of Carlson’s show last Thursday, in which the host talked about Central American migrants at the U.S. border, commenting that illegal immigration makes the U.S. “dirtier.”

Carlson addressed the backlash to his remarks on his show Monday evening. He again aired the clip from his Thursday show, in which he said that rather than immigrants who possess the skills needed to work in an evolving economy, “instead we’re getting waves of people with high school educations or less. Nice people, no one doubts that, but as an economic matter this is insane. It’s indefensible, so nobody even tries to defend it. Instead our leaders demand that you shut up and accept this. We have a moral obligation to admit the world’s poor, they tell us, even if it makes our own country poorer and dirtier and more divided.”

Monday night, Carlson again stated that illegal immigration has been harmful to the environment and stated that he had no plans to change his position. “We’re not intimidated," Carlson said, “and we plan to try to say what’s true until the last day.” An on-air message appeared at the bottom of the screen, which read: “We won’t stop telling the truth and any attack on this show is an attack on you, the audience.”

In a report on the CNBC site, a Fox News Channel spokesperson shared a statement that said: “It is a shame that left wing advocacy groups, under the guise of being supposed ‘media watchdogs’ weaponize social media against companies in an effort to stifle free speech. We continue to stand by and work with our advertisers through these unfortunate and unnecessary distractions.”

Update: On Tuesday afternoon, Fox News emailed a statement regarding the situation. The statement reads: "We cannot and will not allow voices like Tucker Carlson to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts from the likes of Moveon.org, Media Matters and Sleeping Giants. Attempts were made last month to bully and terrorize Tucker and his family at their home. He is now once again being threatened via Twitter by far left activist groups with deeply political motives. While we do not advocate boycotts, these same groups never target other broadcasters and operate under a grossly hypocritical double standard given their intolerance to all opposing points of view.”