Tucker Carlson Tops Cable News Ratings Despite Big-Name Advertisers Backing Out Amid Protests

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Tucker Carlson has topped all of the cables news channels as coverage of protests and riots occurring in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death continued, according to the Daily Caller.

During the week of June 8, Carlson’s 8 p.m. est slot averaged roughly four million viewers.

This means that Carlson edged out fellow Fox News primetime host Sean Hannity, who averaged roughly 3.9 million viewers.

Laura Ingraham finished third, averaging roughly 3.5 million viewers.

“At this point, we’re becoming North Korea,” Carlson said on his show recently. “We now believe in blood guilt. We punish people for the sins of their relatives. We don’t allow individuals to have private thoughts. We hurt anyone who disagrees with orthodoxy. We demand that the innocent plead guilty to things we know they didn’t do, and then read their confessions in public to prove they’ve been re-educated. And then we brag about doing all of this.”

More from Daily Caller:

Carlson also led in the crucial age 25-54 demographic, averaging roughly 680,000 viewers, followed by Hannity and Ingraham, who averaged roughly 633,000 and 621,000 viewers in the demographic, respectively.

Additionally, Hannity was able to extend his ratings winning streak to 66 weeks over fellow primetime host Rachel Maddow of MSNBC. Maddow’s show averaged roughly 2.8 million viewers, including roughly 431,000 viewers in the 25-54 demographic.

Carlson, a Daily Caller co-founder, has accused activist groups of having a “mob” mentality, and attempting to silence dissent as protests continue.

A handful of high profile advertisers pulled ads from his show due to his comments on the Black Lives Matter movement earlier in the week, according to the Western Journal.

One comment in particular, when he said that protesters are “definitely not about black lives.”

Major advertisers began pulling ads from “Tucker Carlson Tonight” like, ABC, whose parent company is Disney, T-Mobile and Papa John’s Pizza.

Earlier in the week, Carlson said, “No matter what they tell you, it has very little to do with black lives. If only it did.”

“If Democratic leaders cared about saving the lives of black people — and they should — they wouldn’t ignore the murder of thousands of black men in their cities every year.”

“They wouldn’t put abortion clinics in black neighborhoods,” Carlson said. “They would instead do their very best to improve the public schools and to encourage intact families.”

“This may be a lot of things, this moment we are living through, but it is definitely not about black lives and remember that when they come for you, and at this rate, they will,” he concluded.

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“At a moment like this, there is no advantage in cowardice,” Carlson said. “Tell the truth. And the truth is this is a good country, better than any other. Of course, we are flawed, but we are trying, unlike most places, and we have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Disney has confirmed it had not run ads on Carlson’s show since early May, but has canceled future ads.

“We will continue to support those who stand against racial injustice,” the tweet read.

T-Mobile has also confirmed that it had not run ads since early May but has canceled all future ads.

T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert also chimed in, tweeting, “Bye-bye, Tucker Carlson!”

More from the Western Journal:

Carlson argued that Democratic leaders don’t even try to make these changes that would improve the lives of African-Americans.

The self-described anti-bigotry advocacy group Sleeping Giants responded to T-Mobile’s announcement, encouraging the company to pull all advertising from Fox News, given the network “continues to push this type of rhetoric.”

In a statement to Bloomberg, Papa John’s said it will no longer be advertising on any opinion-based programs like “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

A Fox News spokesperson told Bloomberg that all the ads and revenue pulled from Carlson’s show have been moved by advertisers to other programs on FNC.