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Advertisers like T-Mobile and ABC are abandoning Fox News' Tucker Carlson over his attacks on the Black Lives Matter movement

Advertisers including T-Mobile and ABC have pulled ads from Fox News' Tucker Carlson show after his comments about the Black Lives Matter movement, according to Deadline .

Tucker Carlson
  • Carlson has characterized Black Lives Matter protests as "riots" and has asked why he is "required" to mourn George Floyd.
  • T-Mobile and ABC parent company Disney have previously tweeted support for Black Lives Matter and were asked by campaigners why adverts were still appearing.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .
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Disney subsidiary ABC and T-Mobile have pulled advertising from Tucker Carlson's Fox News show because of his stance on the Black Lives Matter movement and the death of George Floyd, according to media website Deadline .

Carlson has taken a hard line against the protests that spread after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed by police in Minneapolis. Most recently, in a half-hour speech on June 6 he referred to the protests as "Black Lives Matter riots."

On June 1 Carlson asked viewers why politicians say he is "required" to be upset about Floyd's death, as someone who does not come from Minnesota, according to Media Matters , in response to a call for collective grieving from Nikki Haley, a prominent Republican who was President Donald Trump's ambassador to the UN.

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Conflating peaceful protesters with rioters again, Carlson said on June 5 that celebrities such as Lil Nas X and Janelle Monae were "paying to get violent rioters out of jail" by donating to bail funds.

ABC and T-Mobile have faced an online backlash for having their ads aired during segments like this, Deadline reported.

On Wednesday, political blog Popular Information said that Disney had tweeted messages supportive of the protest movement, but had advertised many times with the show this year.

Later, Disney clarified that although it had run almost 29 ads for its ABC shows this year, they had been "placed on the show without our knowledge by third party media buyers" who had been instructed not to continue, according to Deadline.

T-Mobile has advertised with the show 27 times this year, Popular Information reported.

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However, when asked by left-leaning campaign group Sleeping Giants if it would stop, the company tweeted: "Of course. We haven't run ads on Tucker Carlson Tonight since early May and have cancelled all future placements. We will continue to support those who stand against racial injustice."

Going even further, T-Mobile's CEO Mike Sievert tweeted: "Bye bye, Tucker Carlson!" with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.

Sleeping Giants had tweeted a clip of the June 6 segment in which Carlson made a cryptic statement about people who will "come for you," saying: "It is definitely not about Black lives. And remember that when they come for you and at this rate, they will.

A Fox News spokesperson clarified earlier this week: "Tucker's warning about 'when they come for you' was clearly referring to Democratic leaders and inner city politicians."

The Fox News spokesperson declined to comment to Business Insider about specific advertiser decisions.

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