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- Fox News' Tucker Carlson "embellished" a description of his first-grade teacher, she says.
- Carlson described her in his book as pushing liberal views on students and not properly teaching.
- The teacher, Marianna Raymond, told the Post the description was "crazy" and not at all true.
- See more stories on Insider's business page.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson exaggerated a "crazy" description of his first-grade teacher as "a parody of earth-mother liberalism" in his 2018 book, the teacher told the Washington Post.
In the book, "Ship of Fools," Carlson described his time in Mrs. Raymond's first-grade classroom as a kind of conservative awakening that cemented his belief that liberals should "stop blubbering and teach us to read."
Carlson, who was in first grade in the 1970s, wrote that Mrs. Raymond, his first-grade teacher at the upscale La Jolla Country Day School in southern California, "wore long Indian-print skirts," "had little interest in conventional academic topics, like reading and penmanship," and at one point wailed to students: "The world is so unfair! You don't know that yet. But you'll find out!"
He also charged that "Mrs. Raymond never did teach us; my father had to hire a tutor to get me through phonics."
The teacher herself, Marianna Raymond, told the Post that none of Carlson's version of events was true: she didn't preach social justice, cry in class, or even wear Indian-print skirts. She said she both taught Carlson and, in fact, tutored him outside of school as well, remembering him as "precious" and "very, very polite and sweet" as a child.
"Oh my God," Raymond said of Carlson's description of her as a raging liberal hippie who cried in front of students. "That is the most embellished, crazy thing I ever heard."
Raymond said wasn't even aware that Carlson had characterized her that way until she was interviewed by the Post for an extensive profile on Carlson published Wednesday that traces his ascent to a top purveyor of white grievance and racial resentment from his perch hosting the coveted 8 p.m. slot on Fox News, with a contract reportedly worth $10 million a year.
Carlson himself was not interviewed for the Post story but told the outlet: "You want to make me shut up, so you call me a racist. I've seen it before."
Fox defended Carlson as "an important voice in America which deeply resonates with millions of viewers via our powerful primetime lineup and two in-depth shows on FOX Nation - we fully support him."