'Those are my tacos. Mine!': Fox News host Tucker Carlson goes on bizarre rant about Mexican food and cultural appropriation
- Fox News host Tucker Carlson went on a rant about who tacos really belong to during a Thursday night interview with Univision anchor Enrique Acevedo.
- Carlson and Acevedo were discussing the recent controversy over a Mexican restaurant in Houston posting, and later apologizing for, a photo with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had dined there.
- "It's an American food! It's an American food! You're not going to appropriate my culture," Carlson said of the origin of tacos. "I'm from San Diego, man. Those are my tacos. Mine!"
Fox News host Tucker Carlson went on a rant about who tacos really belong to during a Thursday night interview with Univision anchor Enrique Acevedo.
Carlson and Acevedo were discussing the recent controversy over the owner of Houston restaurant El Tiempo Cantina posting a photo with Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who had dined at the restaurant.
"We had the honor to serve Mr. Jeff Sessions, Attorney General of the United States," the post read. "Thank you for allowing us to serve you."
After receiving a wave of heavy public backlash and criticism, the restaurant's owner Roland Laurezano eventually issued a public apology and then later deleted El Tiempo Cantina's social media accounts.
Many critics were upset that the phrasing of the post seemed to support Sessions, who has recently come under fire for the Justice Department's controversial immigration policies that disproportionately affect Latino and Hispanic people.
Carlson accused Univision, and the Hispanic community more broadly, of "pummeling" El Tiempo Cantina for "stepping out of line" by criticizing the restaurant for serving Sessions.
"I'm totally opposed to illegal immigration. I think that our legal immigration should be lower because the country is getting too volatile. Those are my sincere views," responded Carlson. "I also like Mexican food, since I grew up on the Mexican border. Should I be allowed to eat Mexican food?"
Acevedo explained that while there's nothing wrong with Americans eating Mexican food, many in the Hispanic community perceived Sessions enjoying Mexican cuisine as hypocritical given the immigration policies he promotes, describing it as "attacking someone'' culture and story and then celebrating their food."
"What do you mean 'their food'? It's American food," Carlson retorted with a outburst of laughter. "It's American! What do you think, you own tacos now or something? I love this, it's so crazy!"
Acevedo responded that "no one" owns tacos, and "we should all celebrate each others cultures." But Carlson still took issue with the idea that tacos are anything but American.
"No! What do you mean each other's cultures? It's an American food! It's an American food! You're not going to appropriate my culture," he said. "I'm from San Diego, man. Those are my tacos. Mine!"