New York Democrat and Majority Leader Senator Chuck Schumer on Tuesday urged Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch and the network’s top executives to “stop immediately the reckless reinforcement of the so-called ‘Great Replacement’ theory on the broadcasts from your network.” in the wake of a deadly racist frenzy in Buffalo.
The letter, which followed Mr. Schumer’s comments on the Senate floor Monday, may point to another attempt by Democrats and others to step up pressure on the cable network and its top host and lender, Tucker Carlson.
Mr. Schumer quoted a recent Times investigation showing that Mr. Carlson has used his show for years to relentlessly promote “replacement,” which is the belief, rooted in racist conspiracy theories, that an elite clique is seeking to replace native populations. in the United States and Europe with immigrants from Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
A 180-page document posted online by the accused Buffalo killer is full of racist imagery and references the most extreme versions of the replacement theory, stating that not only immigrants, but also black Americans are “substitutes” who white people. from their rightful place in the United States.
There is no indication that the killer took his ideas from the cable news. But Mr. Schumer criticized Fox and Mr. Carlson for promoting related ideas about Democrats and immigration policy, which he said had helped popularize the replacement ideology with a wider range of Americans.
“These kinds of beliefs have been around for years on the fringes of American life,” wrote Mr. Schumer in his letter, which was also personally copied to Mr. Carlson. “However, this pernicious theory, which in fact has no basis, has been injected into the mainstream, thanks in large part to a dangerous level of amplification by your network and its anchors.”
The poll also found that people who watched mostly right-wing media outlets like Fox News, One America News Network, and Newsmax were more likely to believe in the replacement theory than those who watched DailyExpertNews or MSNBC.
Democrats and liberal groups have spent years trying to pressure Fox News, urging cable providers — whose fees generate much of the network’s revenue — to take action and pressure advertisers to distance themselves from it.
Last year, in the wake of the Jan. 6 riots in the Capitol, the NAACP targeted the Murdochs’ valuable football broadcasts and urged the National Football League to stop Fox News’ criticism of black players protesting for civil rights in to be considered in negotiations for broadcast rights to Murdoch-owned Fox Sports.
In comments about his show Monday night, Mr. Carlson denied responsibility for the Buffalo suspect and distanced himself from his rhetoric, dismissing the document as “an incoherent pastiche of slogans and internet memes.”