The top writer for Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show resigned after a CNN media reporter uncovered that the lead writer had penned racist, sexist, and homophobic comments in an online forum using a pseudonym.
CNN’s Oliver Darcy said that Carlson’s former top writer Blake Neff, posted a series of derogatory comments about women, Black, Asian, and LGBTQ people. Some of the racist remarks authored by Neff had been posted as recently as two weeks ago.
Darcy said he was tipped anonymously in what gave way to the investigation of years of posts by Neff on the message board AutoAdmit.
According to the report, on June 5, Neff wrote, “Black doods staying inside playing Call of Duty is probably one of the biggest factors keeping crime down.” On June 24, Neff commented, “Honestly given how tired black people always claim to be, maybe the real crisis is their lack of sleep.”
Carlson’s show has been repeatedly criticized for stoking racism and xenophobia, while also making claims amid racial justice protests that white supremacy is a “hoax.”
Neff had been working as the lead writer for the Fox show since 2016 after leaving the The Daily Caller, a conservative news website co-founded by Carlson and where Neff published more than 2,000 posts.
Darcy also reported that Neff is quoted by the Darmouth Alumni Magazine as saying, “Anything [Carlson is] reading off the teleprompter, the first draft was written by me,” adding that the show’s writers did their best to use the show’s power in swaying the political conversation “responsibly.”
The resignation comes after Ed Henry the former co-host of “America’s Newsroom” — another Fox News show — was fired from the network for allegations of sexual misconduct announced just over two weeks before Neff’s departure.
In an internal memo sent to employees Saturday afternoon that was shared with TPM after this story was first published, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and President Jay Wallace said that Fox News Media “strongly condemns horrific racist, misogynistic and homophobic behavior.”
Scott and Wallace called Neff’s conduct “abhorrent” and said his behavior on the forum “was never divulged to the show or the network until Friday, at which point we swiftly accepted his resignation.”
Scott and Wallace said that actions like Neff’s would not be tolerated and that Carlson would address the issue on his show on Monday night.
