Fox News host Tucker Carlson acknowledged on Tuesday night that his show had made a factual error when it put up a chyron attributing allegedly swollen testicles to the wrong person in rap star Nicki Minaj’s orbit.
Carlson issued the correction the day after he reported on Minaj’s tweet in which she claimed that the COVID-19 vaccine caused her cousin in Trinidad’s friend’s testicles to swell.
“We put the graphic on the screen, and we suggested that Nicki Minaj’s cousin is the one with the swollen testicles in Trinidad, and we were wrong and we want to admit it,” the Fox host told his viewers on Tuesday. “We henceforth correct the record.”
“Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s testicles are not swollen,” he continued. “As far as we know, he’s fine. It’s Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s testicles who are swollen from taking the [vaccine], that’s the claim.”
Carlson rarely corrects his false reporting, which has included disinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine and lies about white supremacists’ role in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
Just the other day, Carlson admitted to conservative commentator David Rubin that he lies “if I’m really cornered or something.”
“I lie,” he said. “I really try not to. I try never to lie on TV. I don’t like lying.”
“I certainly do it, you know, out of weakness or whatever,” he added.
Watch Carlson below:
Tucker Carlson corrects his story about Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s swollen testicles. pic.twitter.com/ATKYAL630W
— TPM Livewire (@TPMLiveWire) September 15, 2021
