MSNBC host Joy Reid accused Fox host Tucker Carlson of "making America worse."
MSNBC host Joy Reid accused Fox host Tucker Carlson of "making America worse."
Screenshot/MSNBC
  • MSNBC host Joy Reid hit back at Fox New host Tucker Carlson for repeatedly calling her "the race lady."
  • Reid, who is Black, argued that Carlson is the one "fixating on race" and often mentions her Harvard degree to fuel his viewers' opposition to affirmative action.
  • Reid accused Carlson of "making America worse" by promoting white supremacist conspiracies and COVID-19 misinformation.
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MSNBC host Joy Reid devoted a segment of her Monday night show to defending herself against Fox News host Tucker Carlson's attacks and accusing him of "making America worse" by fueling "paranoia" and division.

Carlson has repeatedly called Reid, who is Black, "the race lady" and attacked her for promoting COVID-19 mitigation practices, including wearing a mask in a crowded public place.

"Well, Joy-Ann Reid, the race lady over at MSNBC, took a quick break from haranguing whitey yesterday to reveal something deeply personal about herself on television," Carlson said in one recent segment.

Reid argued that Carlson weaponizes race and that he regularly mocks her Harvard education to fuel his viewers' opposition to race-based affirmative action.

"Did he say 'whitey'?" Reid said. "Oh, honey. Honey. Tuckums. Is this really about me fixating on race or is it about you fixating on race? I mean, when you recently went off on me for continuing to mask up post-vaccine while jogging in crowded Central Park, you weirdly … threw in my attending Harvard. And I don't know, maybe I'm sensitive to this stuff, but it felt kind of like a dog whistle."

Reid mocked Carlson, suggesting he's jealous of her admission to Harvard, and said she got into the Ivy League school because she "had a really high GPA and fantastic SAT scores" and affirmative action involves universities "search[ing] for smart people from diverse backgrounds so that these schools won't be as dry as all the major sports leagues were before they desegregated."

Reid accused Carlson of "making America worse" by promoting skepticism about COVID-19 vaccines and a white supremacist conspiracy theory that Democrats are "importing" immigrants to "replace" Americans.

"People like you, and your friends, and the BS factory are keeping us steeped in COVID sickness, and rage, and paranoia," she said. "And the ways in which you, lil Tucker, are making America worse are why I will continue to keep my mask on in a crowd."

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