By Kristy Puchko | Social Media | June 10, 2020 |
By Kristy Puchko | Social Media | June 10, 2020 |
Yup, 2020 just won’t stop being horrible and stupid. So, naturally Fox News blowhard Tucker Carlson has targeted Elmo in his latest tirade against Black Lives Matter. You might wonder, ‘How? Why? What? Huh?’ Yeah. Let’s break it down.
Earlier this week, CNN released a Sesame Street special designed to aid parents in explaining the nationwide BLM protests to their children. Coming Together: Standing Up To Racism was an hour-long town hall that aired Saturday morning. Among the guests were CNN political commentator Van Jones, CNN national correspondent Erica Hill, Atlanta mayor Keisha Bottoms, Jennifer Harvey and Beverly Daniel Tatum, authors of parenting books that discuss white privilege, as well as Sesame Street residents Abby Cadabby, Rosita, Big Bird, Elmo and his dad Louie. It was this last pairing’s segment that outraged Carlson.
In the clip below, Louie explains to his young son what a protest is and why people are protesting right now.
Here’s the clip from Coming Together: Standing Up To Racism:
Here’s how Carlson responded:
Tucker Carlson attacks Elmo pic.twitter.com/KTkycca7SP
— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) June 10, 2020
“It’s a children’s show,” Carlson scowls, “Got that, Bobby? America is a very bad place and it’s your fault. So no matter what happens, no matter what they do to you when you grow up, you have no right to complain.”
How was that Carlson’s takeaway from the Sesame Street clip? Because he’s a white supremacist who sees any threat against the status quo of police brutality against black and brown bodies as a threat to his cozy privilege and presumed superiority.
Anyway, here’s how Twitter responded:
If there was ever a time for this gif… pic.twitter.com/UP1xcvWiTE
— Sleeping Giants (@slpng_giants) June 10, 2020
Or any parent who would like help explaining racism to their kids. I don’t have kids. But I assume that’s why parents plop their kids down in front of Sesame Street. To learn something.
— Becca Lynn (@BeccaLynnMinkin) June 10, 2020
Imagine Weird Science, but instead of making a dream girl out of a doll/computer hacking they hook up a racial epithet to a potato.
— Marcy Jinx (@JinxMarcy) June 10, 2020
Elmo is the love of my three-year-old's life
— Bee-dub-Tee (@erewinweik) June 10, 2020
YOU HAVE GONE TOO FAR SIR
Gonna look like this pic.twitter.com/GOG6UIRLN5
— 🧡E3/disco🧡 (@discovigilante) June 10, 2020
Just putting it out there that I’d be happy to fight Tucker Carlson.
— Jason Kander (@JasonKander) June 10, 2020
You know, to raise money for charity and stuff.
You’re right, it is a children’s show.
— Muppet History (@HistoryMuppet) June 10, 2020
And maybe if you had paid attention to it you wouldn’t be such an awful human being 🤷â€â™‚ï¸ https://t.co/EzltWajLFP
Black people: We’re angry because police keep murdering us.
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) June 10, 2020
Tucker Carlson: I’m angry because a Muppet on a children’s show said something I disagree with.
Tucker Carlson is so racist he gets triggered watching puppets explain inequality https://t.co/CoHeGtrhuE
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) June 10, 2020
Tucker Carlson getting mad at Elmo was a nearly inevitable part of the “mad white guy” story arc but it just tickles me
— Linda Tirado (@KillerMartinis) June 10, 2020
its honestly impressive how Tucker Carlson can hear a childrens show say “racism is bad” and somehow translate it to “Elmo wants white kids to hate themselves” https://t.co/XL18op9NG4
— Eric Kudla (@emkudla) June 10, 2020
Elmo triggered @TuckerCarlson. That’s where we are America. https://t.co/8x4YYhyXjN
— Lindsey Boylan (@LindseyBoylan) June 10, 2020
Finally, from Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:
Everyone in the streets combating racism has Tucker “Chicken Heir” Carlson so mad he’s accusing Elmo of being Antifa 😂 https://t.co/ITyE03NI5y
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 10, 2020
With racist icons being toppled around the world, maybe Carlson could be next?
Source: CNN, Twitter