Tucker Carlson, the founder and editor-in-chief of The Daily Caller, has weighed in on the vulgar email his brother, Buckley Carlson, accidentally sent a spokesperson for New York mayor Bill de Blasio.
In an interview with Real Clear Politics, Carlson said he refused to criticize his brother in public when asked for comment by various media organizations and wouldn’t do so even if “my brother committed a mass murder.”
He’s my brother. Period. Under no circumstances will I criticize my family in public. Ever. Ever. That’s the rule, and I’m not breaking it.
Carlson also called BuzzFeed, the outlet that broke the story, “crap the kids like” and told Real Clear Politics he doesn’t read it.
He recalled responding to inquiring reporters by telling them his brother “meant it in the nicest way,” in an effort not to engage their questions.
I don’t know, he hit reply all. Was it a stupid thing to do? Obviously. Who hasn’t done that? Everyone’s done it, it’s embarrassing, whatever, move on. They treated it like it was the fall of Baghdad. It was unbelievable.
The interview was part of a standing feature from Real Clear Politics called “Changing Lanes,” which features one-on-one interviews with media and political figures in the mode of Jerry Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.”
Here’s a transcript of Carlson’s comments:
Yes. My only brother, my beloved brother, Buckley, I, uh. (Laughter) I was on an email chain, which is classic, happens every day. One of my reporters was having a conversation with the spokesman for de Blasio, and he called her annoying in an email exchange. So she copied me and “how can you let your employee call me annoying?” And I wrote back and said, “Look, you’ve complained about our story and that’s totally legitimate, we’ll check and see if you’re right” — and she was right, by the way — and we corrected it, we always correct it when we’re wrong, always. But I have to say, I do think you’re kind of annoying. Cause she kinda was. And you should be polite when you email people. And I, for some perverse reason, blind-copied my brother, my beloved brother Buckley, who lives in Washington and is a great guy, but, you know, is a very effervescent character, and he was busy doing something and hit reply all and sent a nasty email about her to this woman. So she immediately sent it to BuzzFeed, which is like, whatever, I don’t even read BuzzFeed, and I won’t, but it’s like crap the kids like, and so it immediately becomes this huge story.
Bottom line, I get all these calls, most of which I ignored, and emails. “Will you denounce your brother?” And I thought, you know what? If my brother committed a mass murder, I would not criticize him in public. He’s my brother. Period. Under no circumstances will I criticize my family in public. Ever. Ever. That’s the rule, and I’m not breaking it. I would never do that. And anyone who would criticize his family in public — I might have a lot to say not in public, but you don’t attack your family. Anyone who would even suggest that is like insane, and I don’t care about their opinion, at all. So of course I’m not going to attack my brother. So I said, I thought it was kind of amusing, I talked to my brother and he said that he meant it in the nicest way. In other words, I’m not going to engage. I don’t know, he hit reply all. Was it a stupid thing to do? Obviously. Who hasn’t done that, everyone’s done it, it’s embarrassing, whatever, move on. They treated it like it was the fall of Baghdad. It was unbelievable. I luckily have a life rule where I never read anything about myself, good or bad, ever. Because I don’t care and I don’t plan to let it into my head.
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