Fox News host Tucker Carlson is facing backlash following the Sunday evening resurfacing of "Bubba the Love Sponge" radio recordings of him comparing women to dogs, defending alleged polygamist cult leader Warren Jeffs, and calling TV host Alexis Stewart "extremely c--ty." Now, progressive media watchdog Media Matters for America is reportedly saying that more recording are on their way within the next day, and the new batch will allegedly touch on Carlson's views on "race and ethnicity," according to comments given to CNN.
A Media Matters spokesperson said that the new recordings will "give some additional insight into Tucker's worldview vis-a-vis race and ethnicity."
Media Matters says they are explicitly releasing the tapes this week in conjunction with an ad-buying event Fox News is holding.
In February, Variety reported that for the first time in Fox News' history, the network would hold an event for ad buyers in its studios to highlight its ratings and opinion content on March 13, three days after the first Media Matters release.
"We certainly want to make sure [the new tapes] are released when they can be most helpful to the media buying decision makers," Media Matters told CNN.
Advertisers that pay for spots during Carlson's primetime Fox News show have become a frequent target of Fox News' progressive critics.
Groups like Sleeping Giants and Color of Change have pioneered the now common practice of organizing online campaigns to get specific advertisers and platforms to disavow conservative personalities like Carlson and Glenn Beck, and conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones.
After Carlson said that allowing unskilled immigrants into the US made the country "poorer and dirtier" in December 2018, over 20 advertisers pulled their ads from his program. In April 2017, advertisers pulled out of Bill O’Reilly's Fox News show "The O’Reilly Factor" en masse after The New York Times reported on allegations of harassment against O'Reilly by five different women.
On Monday, #FireTuckerCarlson and #BoycottTuckerCarlson were trending as users tagged advertisers still working with Carlson.
The resurfaced recordings notably have Carlson defending alleged polygamist cult leader Warren Jeffs whose Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints allegedly arranged marriages between underage girls and adult men. In the past, Carlson has made statements defending relationships between underage teens and adults. The statements were similar to those made by Milo Yiannopoulos before a wave of criticism appeared to lead to his resignation from Breitbart and the cancellation of his book deal with Simon & Schuster.
In the recordings, Carlson also targeted the looks of specific women, including now-Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, compared women to dogs, and called TV host Alexis Stewart "extremely c--ty." Carlson would later criticize Samantha Bee for using the word when describing Ivanka Trump.
Carlson has not apologized for what was in the recordings, instead issuing a statement where he called his remarks "naughty" and challenged critics to come on his show.
"Media Matters caught me saying something naughty on a radio show more than a decade ago," Carlson wrote in a Notes app message. "Rather than express the usual ritual contrition, how about this: I'm on television every weeknight live for an hour. If you want to know what I think, you can watch. Anyone who disagrees with my views is welcome to come on and explain why."
