Fox News host Tucker Carlson called Baylor College of Medicine professor and CNN medical analyst Dr. Peter Hotez a "misinformation machine" during a Tuesday night "Tucker Carlson Tonight" segment.
Hotez's frequent appearances on CNN and MSNBC discussing the Covid-19 pandemic have been marked with dire predictions and calls for draconian coronavirus restrictions and suppressing the speech of anyone who disagrees with him. Calling him a "crazed publicity addict" who "will do any public appearance anywhere at any time," Carlson contended that "very few things Peter Hotez says have any relationship to reality."
"Cooly compare Hotez's views on Covid to, say, Alex Jones’ views on Covid and ask yourself who's saner?" Carlson said. "It’s not even close."
Peter Hotez is a complete charlatan. pic.twitter.com/RGBnlkutPK
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 2, 2022
The Fox News host went on to play three clips of previous Hotez media appearances: 1.) predicting that President Biden would never announce a vaccine mandate and anyone who contended otherwise is guilty of "deliberate misinformation, 2.) insisting that schools keep mask mandates in place despite a lack of evidence that cloth masks do anything to curb transmission, especially in schools, and 3.) calling for the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security to combat what he considers "disinformation."
"Now why are the morons at Baylor letting their employee go on TV and say stuff like that?" Carlson asked. "What a quick way to discredit your hospital and, again, all of American medicine ... Hey, memo to Baylor. A lot of people give you money because they think you are a legitimate organization. This guy is discrediting you and our medical system. He’s arguing in his little Baylor scrubs that people who don't agree with him belong in jail, [that] the Justice Department needs to go after people who disagree with Peter Hotez. Sorry, Peter Hotez, we have freedom of speech in his country, and no one should be more grateful for that than you."
Hotez responded to Carlson's monologue on Twitter by predicting a "wave of aggression on the internet" directed at him.
Ugh, did Tucker Carlson go after me tonight on Fox News? Whenever Fox or their fellow travelers does that it’s often followed by a wave of aggression on the internet or worse, sometimes with antisemitic with Nazi images. Looks like they’re starting to roll in…
— Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD (@PeterHotez) February 2, 2022