Tucker Carlson Says He’d Apologize to Bin Laden’s Family — And Gets Skewered For It

Tucker Carlson said he would apologize to Osama bin Laden’s family after he was killed by Navy SEAL Team 6, even though he hated the terrorist, because that is what “human decency” requires. Many X users, predictably, were not on the same page as Carlson.

The former Fox News star shared his comment during the latest episode of his interview program, The Tucker Carlson Show, on Friday. His guest was Shahed Ghoreishi, a recently-fired State Department official, who said he upset his bosses prior to his exit when he planned on offering condolences to dead Gazans — who some claimed were journalists and Israeli intelligence said were Hamas collaborators — in an official statement.

“Let me just say, I would be totally comfortable sharing condolences with Osama bin Laden’s family,” Carlson said. “I hate Osama bin Laden. On the other hand, if somebody dies, it’s okay to say I’m sorry to his family.”

“He had a toddler!” Ghoreishi interjected.

“That’s what I’m saying. Yeah, that’s immaterial,” Carlson continued. “I would say that to the family of an executed murderer in a prison. It doesn’t mean I support the murder or the murderer, but this is family. Like, that’s okay. That’s called, like, human decency.”

Bin Laden was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks that killed 2,996 people; he was killed a decade later at his compound in Pakistan by American forces. Carlson has been teasing a new series he will be releasing this week to coincide with the anniversary of the terrorist attack, claiming there has been a “cover-up” of the full story.

Ghoreishi, following Tucker’s comment above, said he was told to ditch his plan to offer official condolences because his bosses told him the killed Gazans were “all Hamas,” which he said was “a throwaway line they’ve used [before].” The ex-press officer for the State Department said the U.S. government deferred to Israeli intelligence on these matters, rather than its own intel — which baffled Carlson.

“We have like 17 different intelligence services in this country that take, you know, a trillion dollars a year — whatever their actual budget is — and we don’t consult them at all? We wait for the Israeli spokesperson to tell us what reality is?” Carlson fumed.

A clip of Carlson’s comment about bin Laden started circulating on X on Friday evening, and many users shared their displeasure. Here’s a look at some of those posts:

You can watch Carlson’s full interview with Ghoreishi above via YouTube. The section on bin Laden comes about 20 minutes into the episode.