Immigration comments spark backlash

IHOP pulls ads from Tucker Carlson's show after immigration comments spark backlash

By MATTHEW CHOI

IHOP said Tuesday that it would stop advertising on Tucker Carlson Tonight, joining a series of companies in pulling ads after the host's remark last week about immigrants making America "dirtier."

“At our core, we stand for welcoming folks from all backgrounds and beliefs into our restaurants and continually evaluate ad placements to ensure they align with our values. In this case, we will no longer be advertising on this show,” a spokesperson said in an email to POLITICO.

Carlson said on his Fox News show last week that some lawmakers tell Americans they have a "moral obligation to admit the world’s poor...even if it makes our own country poorer and dirtier and more divided."

More than a dozen companies have stopped advertising since, according to various media reports. The first company to pull the plug was Pacific Life, which ran an ad shortly after Carlson's "dirtier" comment, The Washington Post reported. Others include Bowflex, Indeed and Ancestry.com.

Others, including Mitsubishi, Farmers Insurance and John Deere, have said they will not pull their ads from the show, and a Fox News spokesperson said Tuesday the yanked ads would be placed elsewhere within the network, meaning no revenue would be lost.

"We cannot and will not allow voices like Tucker Carlson to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts," Fox News wrote in a statement, blaming left-leaning advocacy groups for pressuring advertisers. "While we do not advocate boycotts, these same groups never target other broadcasters and operate under a grossly hypocritical double standard given their intolerance to all opposing points of view.”

Carlson on his show Monday called the backlash part of a liberal effort to silence him.

"We're not intimidated," he said. "We plan to try to say what's true until the last day."

Carlson said he was referring in the initial comments to garbage left behind by immigrants as they cross the border and the deteriorating conditions of migrants awaiting asylum hearings in Tijuana, Mexico. Critics, however, said the comment reflected stereotypes of immigrants to the U.S.

Carlson was also subject to protests at his D.C. house earlier this month, which the network has condemned as attempts to intimidate him.