Advertisers are dropping Tucker Carlson's Fox News show after he said immigration makes the US 'dirtier'
- At least five advertisers are leaving Tucker Carlson's Fox News show over his claims about immigrants.
- Carlson said that immigrants are making the US "poorer and dirtier and more divided."
- Insurance company Pacific Life and online design marketplace Minted are among the advertisers no longer working with the show.
- Carlson doubled down on his claims on Monday, and said that "the left" was threatening free speech.
Advertisers are abandoning Fox News host Tucker Carlson's show after he suggested that immigrants are making the US "dirtier."
At least five advertisers are leaving "Tucker Carlson Tonight" or confirmed that they are no longer advertising with the show after his segment on immigration last Thursday.
Carlson said that the US needs more "scientists and engineers" for increasingly automated and tech-centered jobs.
"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 no one even tries to defend it." he said.
"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 country poorer and dirtier and more divided."
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On Friday, insurance company Pacific Life announced that it will "not be advertising on Mr. Carlson's show in the coming weeks as we reevaluate our relationship with his program."
"As a company, we strongly disagree with Mr. Carlson's statements," it said.
Online design marketplace Minted announced on Monday that it would be dropping the show from its advertising buys.
"We do not agree with Mr. Carlson's comments and his opinions are not consistent with the values we hold at Minted," the company tweeted. "Like other advertisers, our media purchases are done broadly across a number of networks."
Jobs website Indeed followed, and said on Monday that it had not run ads on the show for "over a month now."
"As a company, we are nonpartisan ― our site is for everyone, regardless of background or beliefs," Indeed said in a statement to HuffPost on Monday. "Indeed has not advertised on the Tucker Carlson Tonight program in over a month, and has no plans to do so in the future."
The fitness equipment maker Nautilus will also no longer advertise its brand Bowflex on the show, according to a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
SmileDirectClub, a company that makes teeth straighteners, confirmed to NBC News that the company is "actively working with our media buyers to confirm that SmileDirectClub is no longer running our ads around any political opinion shows."
The spokeswoman who spoke to NBC News declined to say whether this was over Thursday's show.
Carlson repeated his claims
People on social media, including movie producer Judd Apatow, had called for the boycott, while others are still monitoring the show and putting pressure on its remaining advertisers.
The boycott is reminiscent of the previous campaigns against Carlson's Fox News colleague Laura Ingraham's show this year. David Hogg, the student who survived the February shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, has led calls for a boycott of her advertisers over her comments about him and about immigrants.
Carlson responded on Monday, where he repeated his claims about immigrants and said that "the left" was threatening free speech, repeating the sentence containing the "dirtier" claim.
"The left says we have a moral obligation to admit the world's poor. Even if it makes our own country more like Tijuana is now, which is to say poorer and dirtier and more divided," he said on Monday.
The majority of the show's advertisers have either said that they will continue to advertise or have not commented.
Mitsubishi told The Daily Beast that it does not consider politics when buying ads, and Farmers Insurance said that its buying decisions are not political.
In a statement to The Daily Beast, Fox News said it is was 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."