Historian Rutger Bregman, once hailed as “the Dutch wunderkind of new ideas” by the Guardian,” gained viral acclaim with this clip from Davos, in which he pounded the table over the need to extract more taxes from the wealthy:
‘It feels like I’m at a firefighters conference and no one’s allowed to speak about water.’ — This historian wasn’t afraid to confront the billionaires at Davos about their greed pic.twitter.com/TiXSJZd89M
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) January 29, 2019
So, Fox News host and conservative lightning rod Tucker Carlson invited Bregman on his show to talk about some of the issues he’s raised.
Spoiler: It didn’t go well.
“Tucker Carlson just called me a ‘fucking moron’ during a prerecord for his show, for pointing out that he’s a millionaire funded by billionaires.”
That’s what Bregman tweeted on Monday after an interview that clearly had gone south. But the two didn’t leave matters in the studio. Bregman followed up by airing this alleged direct message from Carlson:
Okay, so now @TuckerCarlson sent me this email, after I asked him when the interview is gonna air (was supposed to be on tonight). Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/AKaNEjm2S2
— Rutger Bregman (@rcbregman) February 12, 2019
Justin Wells, senior executive producer for “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” confirmed to MarketWatch that the segment had, indeed, been pulled. “Tucker is someone who appreciates many points of view,” he said. “Sadly, the guest turned an opportunity to have a substantive, informative discussion into an obviously calculated personal insult campaign. We were disappointed in the segment and respect our audience’s time too much to consider airing it.” (Fox News parent 21st Century Fox FOX, -0.02% FOXA, -0.03% and MarketWatch parent News Corp NWS, +1.49% NWSA, +1.60% share common ownership.)
Bregman wasn’t quite finished. On Tuesday, he caught the internet’s attention by dangling his own recorded version of the interview.
Good morning @TuckerCarlson, why didn't you air the interview with me last night? Couldn't handle the criticism? I think you should just show it. And try to resist the temptation to edit, I've recorded the full thing - including that moment when you start swearing profusely.
— Rutger Bregman (@rcbregman) February 12, 2019
The internet’s response?
Stay tuned.
