John Oliver Goes Off on Tucker Carlson and RNC Speakers for Stoking ‘Racial Panic’ Amid Kenosha Shootings
Last Week Tonight host John Oliver went off Sunday on Tucker Carlson and speakers at the Republican National Convention for stoking “racial panic” amid the violence in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Targeting certain RNC speakers for pushing a “steady diet of barely disguised racial panic,” Oliver faulted former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley for tackling racism as if it were in the nation’s past, and Vice President Mike Pence for using “we versus them” rhetoric.
“We don’t have to choose between supporting law enforcement and standing with our African American neighbors,” Pence said during his speech. Oliver said using “we” as the pronoun for American people separated the Black community as an entirely different group.
“A lot of the RNC’s messaging on race seemed intended not so much to win over Black voters as to reassure white people that they can vote Republican without being racist,” Oliver added of the speech.
The host then went after Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the couple that pulled guns on unarmed Black Lives Matter protesters marching past their house, for promoting the idea that Democrats want to destroy the suburbs by bringing “crime, lawlessness, and low-quality apartments into now-thriving suburban neighborhoods.”
“Think about how incendiary that message is,” Oliver pointed out. “Violence and criminals are coming to your community in the form of low-quality apartments, and you must defend yourself. Take it from us, the couple who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters.”
The host added that their rhetoric ultimately had consequences, as Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year old supporter of President Donald Trump, ultimately killed two people trying to defend a city he did not live in.
“I don’t know if he saw the McCloskeys speak the night before he drove to a city he didn’t live in to defend property he didn’t own,” said Oliver. “What I do know is he was an avid Trump supporter, even sitting front row at a rally back in January, and Trump and his media ecosystem have been delivering essentially the same message as the McCloskeys for years now. Just look at how quickly Tucker Carlson moved to try and explain away Rittenhouse’s actions as a natural response.”
Oliver went after the Fox News host for attempting to justify Rittenhouse’s killing of two people, a message that already led to a tense exchange on the network.
“So, are we really surprised that looting and arson accelerated to murder? How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?” Carlson said a clip Oliver played from his show.
“Well, you don’t seem to be shocked—and that alone should be pretty f*cking shocking,” Oliver shot back once the clip ended. “Because let’s be clear. A 17-year-old vigilante with a rifle cannot maintain order, because a 17-year-old vigilante with a rifle trying to maintain order is himself the definition of disorder—except, of course, if you’re a regular viewer of Tucker Carlson, a show that exists to teach its viewers precisely three things: Property damage is violence, homicide is order, and pillows are for sale.”
Watch above, via YouTube.
