The Secret Campaign to Destroy Tucker Carlson; Can Free Beer Save Budweiser?

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is facing public hit pieces. Leaked internal videos from Fox and internal communications at the network have been provided to The New York Times and to leftist organization Media Matters. It appears public sentiment is still more on the side of Carlson, but the attacks are raising questions of whether or not these leaks were motivated by business.

In other news, Anheuser-Busch is still reeling from boycotts following a Bud Light promotional campaign with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. But they might have a solution: free beer.

In this episode of Crossroads, we’ll discuss these stories.

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TRANSCRIPT:

Good evening and welcome to Crossroads!

It looks like someone at Fox is trying to destroy Tucker Carlson’s reputation. It’s not clear whether this is a rogue employee, or whether it’s more official. There’s a lot of speculation on this. But regardless, so far it looks like the plan is backfiring.

Videos and internal messages of Tucker are being provided to the New York Times, and to Media Matters, which was founded by longtime Hillary Clinton ally David Brock.
The first to go public was a video of Tucker speaking casually, and criticizing Fox Nation. Watch:

So, Tucker is saying he wants to do a formal interview and not a casual interview, and criticizes the Fox Nation platform, suggesting that the amount of work he does isn’t done justice by what he says is low viewership on the platform. It’s a fair critique, some would say.

Here’s another that was leaked, with an off-camera discussion between Tucker Carlson and Piers Morgan. Watch:

Too much? Scandalous? Well, you be the judge. Of course, what the media is missing is the context of their comments, they were talking about Tucker’s special feature, “End of Men,” which was on why testosterone levels in men have been dropping, and whether this is being caused by chemicals in our environment.

Regardless, the public has spoken. On this issue, it appears the overwhelming public sentiment is with Tucker. Here’s a small sample of Twitter users that show the general tone:

Kathryn Ivy
These have been so fun to watch. Hope they have more. One of the few commentators I would pay to watch.

Jumble Weed
How does it make him look bad?
Now we’ve seen him without his makeup!

Aside from the videos released by Media Matters, which is known for its attacks on conservative media, the New York Times also came out with its own hit piece using Fox documents that were leaked to them. Part of this is attempting to frame the narrative on why Tucker left Fox.

It’s still not clear publicly why Tucker Carlson and Fox News parted ways. There are plenty of rumors on this. But these rumors aren’t the official excuse being pushed by the corporate media. The New York Times claims Tucker was fired for his criticism of Fox’s leadership.

They published this story: “Carlson’s Text That Alarmed Fox Leaders: ‘It’s Not How White Men Fight’ The discovery of the text message contributed to a chain of events that ultimately led to Tucker Carlson’s firing.” In this piece, the New York Times show a text message that Tucker sent to a producer. I’ll read the full text. Tucker wrote:

“A couple of weeks ago, I was watching video of people fighting on the street in Washington. A group of Trump guys surrounded an Antifa kid and started pounding the living shit out of him. It was three against one, at least. Jumping a guy like that is dishonorable obviously. It’s not how white men fight. Yet suddenly I found myself rooting for the mob against the man, hoping they’d hit him harder, kill him. I really wanted them to hurt the kid. I could taste it. Then somewhere deep in my brain, an alarm went off: this isn’t good for me. I’m becoming something I don’t want to be. The Antifa creep is a human being. Much as I despise what he says and does, much as I’m sure I’d hate him personally if I knew him, I shouldn’t gloat over his suffering. I should be bothered by it. I should remember that somewhere somebody probably loves this kid, and would be crushed if he was killed. If I don’t care about those things, if I reduce people to their politics, how am I better than he is?”

Public sentiment on this was divided more along partisan lines. Many on the left claimed the tweet was racist. Many on the right pointed out that Tucker’s statement was an introspection on not getting pulled in by hate, and to not just judge people by their politics. Again, agree or disagree, you be the judge.

But more broadly speaking, most of the debate with the leaks hasn’t been much about Tucker at all. Instead, much of the official debate has shifted to what just look like attempts to destroy Tucker Carlson’s reputation. People are wondering who leaked the documents. They want to know why leaked videos and text were handed to Media Matters and New York Times, which would be expected to use them for partisan hit pieces. And they want to know whether Fox is involved in the attacks on its former star host.

Former Fox News talk show host Megyn Kelly, who now hosts The Megyn Kelly Show, said Fox News itself may be trying to destroy Tucker’s credibility. Watch:

So is this just a hit job? We still don’t know for sure. But others in the news industry are suggesting this as well. Investigative journalist Glenn Greenwald had this to say:
“There’s obviously a decision by Fox to wage a massive war on Tucker Carlson’s character — using both the NYT and Media Matters to do it — and it’s extremely odd for many reasons, beginning with the fact that he hasn’t uttered a negative word about them.”

Tucker is also in a difficult position. He’s still under contract with Fox. Because of this, he’s not able to give interviews to defend himself. He’s muzzled while he’s being attacked. At the same time, it appears someone at the company he’s under contract with to not speak publicly, is leaking information about him to destroy his credibility and damage his ability to find work in the news industry.
So, given this situation – that it seems a Fox leaker is attacking Tucker, and a Fox contract has him unable to speak – will Fox either allow Tucker to speak and defend himself, or will the network come out to defend him amid the leaks? If they don’t, they risk looking like they’re behind it.

After the break, we’ll be talking about Bud Light’s desperate offer of free beer after the Dylan Mulvaney backlash.

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Welcome back!

Do you like free beer? Well, Budweiser certainly hopes so. And it looks like they’re also hoping you like free beer more than you dislike woke culture. The alcohol company is facing a crisis of public opinion after it partnered with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.

For those who missed it, here’s a reminder:

You get it. The commercial triggered a massive backlash against the company, with boycotts not just against Bud Light, but against all products from its parent company Anheuser-Busch.

Things only got worse. Budweiser vice president of marketing Alissa Heinerscheid posted and then deleted a post on Facebook where she criticized the “fratty” culture around Budweiser. Then people spread social media photos of her drinking at a venue that looks very “fratty.”

There were some mixed reactions among the public. This was the response from singer and songwriter Kid Rock. Watch:

Kid Rock then goes on to state his discontent both against Bud Light and Anheuser-Busch.

And on the criticisms of the “fratty” culture around Budweiser, this was how Joe Rogan framed it. Watch:

Budweiser then came up with a new advertisement. This time playing on its classic images of American country life and Clydesdale horses.

Unfortunately for Anheuser-Busch, it may be too late for that image of masculinity and Americana. They committed a new classic blunder: Never run a trans ad campaign to masculine men, when money is on the line.
Anheuser-Busch is now in crisis mode. Sales that were initially down by 11 percent dropped down to 21 percent over the course of a week.

And it’s not just customers moving away from the company’s products. It’s also the company’s distributors. A Beer Business Daily publication reviewed by Fox News, stated they “reached out to a handful of A-B [Anheuser-Busch] distributors who were spooked, most particularly in the Heartland and the South, and even then in their more rural areas.” And it’s hard to sell beer when nobody wants to sell it.
And this is where the new Budweiser plan comes into play: free beer.

In light of news that many alcoholic distributors are facing plummeting sales on its products, the company is offering a free case of Bud Light for every distributor employee.

As things currently stand, Anheuser-Busch won favor with investors who stand by ESG scores. That’s Environmental and Social Governance. Yet, the question is, can it keep up the company’s stock prices long enough to weather the storm of controversy, and for customers to return to the product?

It’s turning into a game of chicken. We wait to see which side folds first: the investors or the customers. In the meantime, at least with the stock market, Anheuser-Busch is having to deal with the challenge of identifying as profitable.

The bigger problem for Anheuser-Busch, however, is this is no longer an issue of just public anger against a brand. It’s arguably not about Budweiser anymore. In a sense, it’s not even about the transgender issue. Instead, the Budweiser boycott has come to represent more of a type of victory over woke culture. It’s now a symbol of people uniting against what’s seen as cultural propaganda they disagree with. The public tends to have short attention spans for media scandals over surface grievances, but when it’s about culture, that’s a much more difficult thing to change.

And even among the transgender community, some are now allegedly protesting Bud Light, since they believe the brand has abandoned them. It’s hard to win in a controversy like this – and even harder if you’re trying to win both sides.
As for Dylan Mulvaney, he’s moved on to new sponsorship gigs. He published a video for his 365th day of declaring he’s a woman, where he declared a partnership with makeup company Maybelline. And customers are likewise now falling for a boycott of Maybelline products.

“Maybe she’s born with it!” Or, maybe not…

That’s all for tonight, folks. Thanks for joining us for this new version of Crossroads on weeknights at 7PM eastern on EpochTV.com. In the next couple of weeks, we will be adding interviews and more segments to the show, so stay tuned for that. And then starting May 15th, we will be broadcasting simultaneously on both EpochTV.com and NTD cable. For updates, follow us on social media @crossroads_josh. And as always, Stay informed, and stay free.