The House speaker said people should not “amplify” Fuentes’ views.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tucker Carlson’s decision to interview white supremacist Nick Fuentes on his podcast last month was a “big mistake.”
“He has a lot of listeners, and I think giving Nick Fuentes that platform is a big mistake,” the Louisiana Republican told The Hill in an interview published Tuesday.
Johnson said that he had not listened to Fuentes before but that he “sort of knew” who the far-right provocateur is. After listening to a compilation of some of the “worst things” Fuentes has said, Johnson called it “vile, terrible stuff.”
“I mean, it’s not just antisemitic, it’s openly racist, it’s violent — things you can’t even repeat on the House floor,” Johnson said. “We should not be giving a platform to amplify those views. And I think that’s important for us to say.”
Carlson’s interview with Fuentes — who has previously expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler, denied the Holocaust and spoken of “organized Jewry” — received widespread condemnation for antisemitism and has since exposed fault lines among conservatives.
A spokesperson for Carlson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Johnson called the rise of antisemitism in his party “a very recent development,” adding that antisemitism is “primarily on the left.”
When asked if those who “amplify” such views should be uninvited from conferences, Johnson said he can’t control that but added that “when we see anyone calling out Jewish people because of who they are, or are speaking in tones of antisemitism, then I think we’ve got to denounce that.”
“It’s a dangerous trend to give a platform to people who are just openly and unrepentantly antisemitic and engaging in all this hateful racist stuff,” Johnson said. “It’s just not helpful.”