We were pretty giddy about the Larry Craig scandal yesterday. Then we started watching the coverage, which has rapidly degenerated into a smug homophobia-fest. The worst so far: on MSNBC, Tucker Carlson bragged that when a man hit on him in a bathroom in Georgetown, he went back with a friend and "grabbed him . . . and hit him against the stall with his head."
Then Dan Abrams and Joe Scarborough laughed.
The gleeful back-slapping over Tucker's attack starts at 2:47. The relevant part of the above YouTube clip is also excerpted here on Gawker.
Last time we checked, beating up a gay man for propositioning you was a crime -- a hate crime, even.
Don Imus got in trouble for letting his disdain for black women slip out. Shouldn't Carlson get in at least as much trouble for revealing (with glee!) his past violence against a gay man?
UPDATE: Carlson has released the following statement:
"Let me be clear about an incident I referred to on MSNBC last night: In the mid-1980s, while I was a high school student, a man physically grabbed me in a men's room in Washington, DC. I yelled, pulled away from him and ran out of the room. Twenty-five minutes later, a friend of mine and I returned to the men's room. The man was still there, presumably waiting to do to someone else what he had done to me. My friend and I seized the man and held him until a security guard arrived.
"Several bloggers have characterized this is a sort of gay bashing. That's absurd, and an insult to anybody who has fought back against an unsolicited sexual attack. I wasn't angry with the man because he was gay. I was angry because he assaulted me."
UPDATE UPDATE: GLADD is asking for an apology from Carlson and MSNBC
Reader Comments ( Page 3 of 7)
31. Ada thanks for your news blog in support of restroom pedophilia. Someone with children should explain the facts to you. Sexual orientation has nothing to do with your idiotic article. If anyone is banned from now on its you. Pehaps if you feel so strongly towards this person that accosted a minor in a restroom you can have your kids, or nephews spend a day with him. left wing liberals are appalled by all violence unless its a homeless person living in the street in front of their home affecting property values. I have yet to see a group of liberal business owers ban together and make a 25 dollar an hour minimum wage. Where are all you liberals as Katrina victims still wait for help. Attacking Tucker Carlson because he beatup a pedophile and had him arrested. Go Democrats!
Keith Terceira at 5:51AM on Aug 30th 2007
32. It seems to me that there is a larger concern in this report that most people are missing. Whether or not a teenaged Tucker Carlson and his friend were justified in their reaction to that indecent proposal is not really of primary relevance. The PROBLEM, as I see it, is the "Good Ole Boy" banter that is allowed to take place between On-Air "Journalists". Anyone who finds that kind of behavior harmless really ought to take a look at the facts of the Mathew Sheppard Murder Case. Or read what the student athletes who were the target of Don Imus's insensitive remarks have to say about the negative impact his "harmless" comments have had on their young lives. It isn't overreacting or censorship to demand that these TV Newsmen and Commentators RESPECT all of us, not just the ones who are further up on society's Totem Pole.
Paul at 5:57AM on Aug 30th 2007
33. Paul you are correct Tucker and his pals should be more sensitive to the plight of restroom pedophiles in America. If Tucker won't say he is sorry to you and your friends then I will..Happy Hunting
Keith Terceira at 6:04AM on Aug 30th 2007
34. Look, if I got hit on in a public bathroom, the guy that did it could very well get hit, and it would have nothing to do with the fact that he was gay. I've been hit on before by gay men and I didn't have any problem with it. I politely told them that I was not gay. In a public bathroom I'm not sure I would be so polite. It's just creepy. I don't even like to talk to people in a public bathroom, in fact there is a very specific and widely accepted (by men, gay and straight) set of unwritten rules for public bathroom behavior. Now, if I had already left the last thing I would do is go looking for the guy to beat him up, but my initial reaction might be to hit the guy. I'm sorry, I'm just being honest.
David at 6:41AM on Aug 30th 2007
35. If I did hit someone for hitting on me in a public bathroom it would have nothing to do with the fact that he was gay and everything to do with the place we were in, and the sense of vulnerability that I would probably have at the time. Look, hitting on people in a bathroom is creepy and wrong. There is a good reason for the extesive set of unwritten rules of conduct for public bathrooms that most guys, gay and straight, know and respect. That guy deserved to get hit, but I do think Tucker was wrong if he had already left and came back to beat the guy up. That makes no sense and was cowardly. It was even more wrong of him to brag about it later.
David at 7:00AM on Aug 30th 2007
36. Hitting that dude is in no way a hate crime... I bet you wouldn't be complaining if a young female reporter discusses having hit a creepy guy who hits on her!
Tony Messinger at 7:39AM on Aug 30th 2007
37. Keith(comment 29) is 100% right. As the mother of 4 sons, I would like to know what is wrong with some of you people? How did the pedophile-gay or straight- have the right to be slinking around a public restroom propositioning teenage boys? If this happened to any of my boys, I would become that perverts worst nightmare.
boopell at 8:33AM on Aug 30th 2007
38. Oh stop with the drama. I am pro-gay rights, pro gay marriage. I am anti-Tucker and I am anti-violence, however, he did not say he beat him up, he said he grabbed him and banged his head on the stall - AND THEN THE MAN WAS ARRESTED. Which obviously means that the police found the gay man to be in the wrong as opposed to Tucker.
So many people just look for something to harp on. Grow up. If the laws and rules of your society bother you, PRO-ACTIVELY CHANGE THEM. Stop feeding into the media - that is how they have way too much power!!!
Home Grown American at 8:47AM on Aug 30th 2007
39. I think Ada's blog is a bit off-point. After watching this twice, the story seems to be that Tucker was harassed by a man in a public restroom when he was in high school. He then went and got a friend (and from the sounds of it also contacted the authorities), apprehended the harassing individual (which resulted in the guy get shoved against the wall in the bathroom) and waited for the authorities to come to arrest the individual.
So, basically, you've got a high school kid who was approached for sex in a public bathroom, who ran for help, then detained the suspected offender until authorities arrived on the scene. That's quite a bit different than somebody beating a man up for "hitting on him". I've never watched any of the 3 guys who were on this video before, but Tucker seems the least offensive of the three. The fact that the other two guys found it hilarious that Tucker was accosted in a bathroom as a teenager is the most disturbing part of the video, in my opinion.
gtp at 8:53AM on Aug 30th 2007
40. Tea Room Trade. A book dedicated to the study of homosexual men, closeted and open, who have various anonymous sexual encounters in the public bathrooms on South Beach, Florida.
Even more amazing is that a large percentage were married men with children. And that this was repeated behavior.
I have many gay friends who have told me of the signs and signals of this particular behavior. It is amazing that SO MANY participate in this extremely hazardous and sexual behavior. Familiar with the term 'glory hole?' A hole in a men's room stall where a man will stick his penis through for the UNKNOWN occupant in the other stall to do with as he pleases.
Home Grown American at 8:54AM on Aug 30th 2007
41. So, being propositioned by a gay man is justification for violence? So, he was "intimidated" by this, but not enough to go back with a friend and start violence? This is discusting, and I can't believe that 40% of repondants don't find it offensive.
amren2006 at 9:16AM on Aug 30th 2007
42. There's a point here worth considering. Trying to score with a high school boy in a public bathroom is not about being gay.
Being gay is about love, and attraction, and who you choose to be with.
The ancillary stereotypical behaviour is not the gayness, but rather the visible attributs of a lifestyle that is still underground for the majority (not the vocal and visible majority).
Being gay is not about gin and tonics and poppers on the dance floor. It's not about doing a lot of partners. It's not about doing a lot of drugs.
The gay community (whatever that is) should probably distance itself from these activities, just to stop them from harming the PR of the group.
David at 9:16AM on Aug 30th 2007
43. I love the PR spin F--ker Carlson has released. It's not so funny now since the TV execs called you in their offices to tell you what an idiot you were for your remarks last night!
Come try to bash this gay guy and I'll knock your f-ucking teeth out your head! TRUST ME!
Boz at 11:00PM on Aug 30th 2007
44. I can't believe that Ada would be so biased as to call standing up for yourself "gay bashing". This guy was clearly attacked in a very unsolicited way. If a woman would have done the same thing to a man we wouldn't even be reading about it.
shiningstarxport at 9:57AM on Aug 30th 2007
45. I'd defintely kick the guays ass!!!
bob at 10:02AM on Aug 30th 2007