Tucker Carlson says rape survivors must immediately report their rapist or they are 'part of the problem'
- Tucker Carlson discussed the sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on his show Tuesday night.
- The Fox News host suggested that rape survivors had an "obligation" to immediately report their attackers.
- He said: "If Bernie Madoff rips you off and you don't tell his other investors, you're part of the problem, are you not?"
- Carlson has previously said survivors have an "obligation as a citizen" to report their sexual assault experiences, "to protect the rest of us from whomever you believe did it."
Tucker Carlson suggested that rape survivors have an "obligation" to immediately report their rapists, and that they are "part of the problem" if they don't.
The Fox News host on Tuesday night likened surviving rape to losing money on an investment scheme, and suggested that rape survivors were doing others a disservice by not reporting their experience.
He was discussing the sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh that were made by Palo Alto University professor Christine Blasey Ford, and have come to dominate the nomination process.
Ford claimed that a 17-year-old Kavanaugh pinned her down, put his hand over her mouth, and groped her at a party when they were in high school.
She previously reported the allegations against Kavanaugh, now 53, anonymously, but revealed her identity on September 16. She is scheduled to testify against him on Thursday.
Although Ford's allegations are of sexual assault, not rape, Carlson switched to speaking about a hypothetical "rapist" in the discussion.
Here is the relevant exchange between Carlson and his guest, radio host Ethan Bearman, on Tuesday. Carlson's comments are in bold:
Carlson: She [Ford] didn't tell anybody his name for 36 years, during which time he got married, he interacted with many others in our population. Sex offenders tend to commit serial sex crimes.
Doesn't she have an obligation to tell someone to stop him from doing that if he is in fact a sex criminal? Where's her obligation here? What about the rest of us?
Bearman: No. Because every psychologist will tell you, there are eight primary reasons why a sexual assault victim, why a trauma victim doesn't come foward, doesn't talk about it -
Carlson: I'm not asking about her reasons - I' m sure she has a million reasons, and maybe they're legitimate. I'm asking about the rest of us, the other 320 million who live here [in the US]. If he's actually a sex criminal, we have a right to know that and she has an obligation to tell us.
I know it's hard, but why don't we have a right to know? If there's a rapist on the loose, if you don't tell anybody, if Bernie Madoff rips you off and you don't tell his other investors, you're part of the problem, are you not? What am I missing?
Bearman: Dr Ford did communicate with her therapist, she's produced that evidence, she's going to talk in front of the committee, which
Carlson: But why not tell this? She didn't name him for 36 years. I'm not saying it's not true. I'm saying that if it is true, what's going on here? Don't the rest of us have a right to protect ourselves from this dangerous man?
Watch the segment around the 3:16 mark in the video below.
Last week Carlson also suggested that sexual assault survivors have an "obligation as a citizen" to immediately report their experiences.
He said at the time: "It's pretty straightforward. If you believe a crime has been committed against you, you report it. Go to the police.
"It's not always easy, obviously, but it's still your obligation as a citizen, not least to protect the rest of us from whomever you believe did it."