Tucker Carlson wouldn't do this on purpose - would he? Fox New's latest superstar Tucker Carlson is accused of hiring an actor to debate a point when the person he wanted on the show for this debate refused to appear. What?
Carlson attempted to get Olga Lexell on his show as the co-organizer and creator of Monday's "Not My President's Day" protests. Tucker was met with "repeated refusals" from Lexell so he booked someone else. This guy turned out to be an actor who filled in for Lexell. The only problem is, the guy had nothing to do with the protests.
So was Carlson or his producers duped?
Real Organizer declines invite
Lexell said that Shane Saunders, the man on Tucker's segment debating the nationwide "Not My President's Day" protest, was not affiliated with the protest at all. The on-screen graphics that show up under a guest's name identified Shane as an "organizer" of the protests, much to Lexell's surprise. Again, Saunders had nothing to do with organizing the protests.
Actor booked in organizer's place?
Carlson asked Saunders on air if his "protest was going to make a difference," so it sounded as if he was insinuating with this question that Saunders was affiliated with these protests. Carlson reached out to all the organizers nationwide via their Facebook pages, but they declined to come on his show.
Lexell herself originally agreed to go on Fox with Carlson, but once the rest of the organizers nation wide declined, Lexell herself canceled.
She said she agreed originally to "bide some time" so she could contact everyone, but once everyone was on the same page, she then canceled her appearance. Lexell said Tucker was "begging me to come on the show." According to the Daily Beast, Lexell did provide them with two emails from Carlson requesting that she appear on his show.
How did this happen?
It was then that Lexell posted some jokes about not wanting to go on Tucker's show on social media. The Daily Beast cites how Tucker has a reputation of taking charge of his interviews and he's been accused in the past of blindsiding guests. He's also accused of not letting guests finish their statements or allowing them to issue "fully formed answers" to questions.
Once Lexell's quips appeared online about refusing to go on Carlson's show, Saunders posted a bunch of comments about Lexell's refusal. Those comments have been deleted by Saunders, but before they were deleted Tucker or one of his team saw Saunder's posts and got a hold of him to take Lexell's place.
Who is this guy?
Once Saunders appeared on Tucker's show, Lexell emailed the producers of the show to tell them this guy (Saunders) was not anyone affiliated with the protests. She wrote: “Hey just so you guys know, that guy who you got on the show isn't affiliated with our event and didn't even attend any of the protests. I know him in real life and he's an aspiring actor.”
What?
The producers wrote back, "Okay." Heather Mason who co-organized the event with Lexell said she doesn't think that Tucker's team vetted the guy or that they just didn't care that he wasn't involved in the protests.
Mason was baffled that Saunders would go on the air without having any authority on the protests or "seemingly even attending" one of them. It looks like Saunders got his 15 minutes of fame thanks to Tucker Carlson.
The executive producer of "Tucker Carlson Tonight" issued a statement to the Daily Beast saying that the program incorrectly identified a Los Angeles based protest participant as a "protest organizer." Justin Wells said that they misidentified him on the screen's graphic, but he was correctly identified when introduced for the segment on air. "We regret the graphic didn't accurately reflect his role throughout the entire segment."
