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- Tucker Carlson's college yearbook photo and entry surfaced online this week.
- The entry referenced the "Dan White Society" and the "Jesse Helms Foundation."
- Dan White is the name of Harvey Milk's killer. Jesse Helms was a controversial GOP senator.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson's college yearbook photo was circulating on Twitter this week, with some pointing out the groups listed in the entry.
Beneath Carlson's photo and name, the entry included the "Dan White Society" and the "Jesse Helms Foundation," implying Carlson was part of the groups.
Dan White was an American politician who assassinated San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, California's first openly gay elected official, in 1978. Jesse Helms was a conservative US senator who spoke out against LGBTQ rights and the civil rights movement.
Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, Carlson's alma mater, confirmed to The Wrap that the yearbook entry was authentic. The entry can also be seen on page 186 of a digital copy of the 1991 yearbook.
Representatives for Carlson did not respond to Insider's request for comment.
-Travis Akers (@travisakers) April 21, 2021
It is unclear what exactly the "Dan White Society" or the "Jesse Helms Foundation" were, though the latter could be related to an organization founded in 1988 that is now called the Jesse Helms Center. According to their website, the group's mission is to "promote our nation's founding principles that Senator Jesse Helms advanced throughout his career."
Helms was a polarizing figure in American politics. The New York Times obituary for Helms, who died in 2008, described him as "against civil rights, gay rights, foreign aid, and modern art."
"Nothing positive is likely to happen to America if our people succumb to the drumbeats of support for the homosexual lifestyle," Helms said, according to The Times.
Carlson's yearbook entry also mentioned his history major and a "Christian Fellowship."
On his show Tuesday, Carlson addressed the topic of his college yearbook and criticized a journalist from the Washington Post, as well as the outlet's owner.
"Jeff Bezos had one of his minions, a mentally imbalanced middle-aged man called Erik Wemple, pull our dusty college yearbook and see if we'd done anything naughty at the age of 19," he said. "That sounds like fun. Let us know if you hear any good stories."
In 2020, Carlson criticized Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam for his own surfaced yearbook photo, calling him "Governor Klan Robes Blackface," The Wrap reported.