Fox News host Tucker Carlson has come under fire for egregiously claiming that Derek Chauvin was not responsible for George Floyd’s murder.
Discussing with co-host Laura Ingraham how Floyd’s death had sparked massive protests in Minneapolis in 2020, Mr Carlson sympathized with Chauvin and falsely implied that his April 2021 conviction was unjust.
“[Democrats] put this cop in prison for the rest of his life and we all have to pretend he committed murder, which he didn’t,” Mr Carlson said during a segment on Tuesday. “But whatever, you have to pretend it is. And then they leave, and they go on the next thing to destroy.”
The inaccurate remarks wholly contradict the reality that Chauvin pinned Floyd to the pavement and kneeled on his neck for nine and a half minutes while he pleaded to be let free and then died as a result.
Chauvin is now serving a 22-year jail sentence following his conviction on charges of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. He was also convicted of federal charges for violating Floyd’s civil rights.
Video of Mr Carlson’s shocking comments went viral after it was shared on Twitter by the Republican Accountability Project.
“These people on Fox are DEMONIC & destructive to America. They’re the RADICALS, the ANTI-AMERICAN TRAITORS, the TYRANTS & LIARS,” user @jm_dent tweeted.
User @Bustamante1 also tweeted: “This racist dirt bag and his aryan bimbo are at it again. @FoxNews just let’s this moron get away with anything for the all mighty dollar. What is it going to take for you to remove him?”
Chauvin, who had been with the Minneapolis Police Department for nearly 20 years, had been conducting an arrest after a store clerk became suspicious that Floyd used a counterfeit $20 bill.
Three other officers, J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao, were also convicted on federal charges in the killing for failing to aid Floyd as he cried out that he couldn’t breathe.
Floyd’s murder was recorded in video by bystanders that quickly viral, sending waves of shock and outrage and sparking protests across the globe against police brutality that marked a summer of unrest in 2020.
Two years after Floyd’s death, Fox host Laura Ingraham hinted that it was time for the city to move on from the aftermath of reckoning.
“This is, like, 26 months after Floyd was killed and you can feel it in the officers. They’re trying to put on a brave face and they are great people,” she told Mr Carlson during Tuesday’s segment.
Mr Carlson had previously claimed on air that Floyd died of a drug overdose. During Kueng and Thao’s sentencing last month, a toxicologist testified that Floyd “died from a lack of oxygen to his brain,” because his airway had been closed off, PBS reported.
Small traces of fentanyl and methamphetamine in his systems did not cause or led to his death, experts said.
The Independent has reached out to Fox News for comment.
