Tucker Carlson has called a female reporter 'stupid' and unleashed on the ABC during a confrontation with reporters at an address he made in Canberra.
The former Fox News host and influential US conservative commentator launched a fierce attack on an AAP reporter on Tuesday after she asked about his views on 'Great Replacement Theory'.
She said Carlson had spoken about how white Australians, Americans and Europeans were being replaced by non-white migrants '4,000 times' on his show.
He responded by noting he had 'never said that whites are being replaced, not one time' and that his comments on the issue applied to all native-born regardless of race.
'If you think that's racist, that's your problem,' Carlson said.
'It's completely honest and real, not racist or scary, its factually true - its not a theory its a fact.'
Carlson became exasperated when the reporter then went on to link his discussion of the Great Replacement Theory to a a racially-motivated mass shooting that left 10 dead in Buffalo, New York in 2023.
'Oh God! Come on!' Carlson replied.
'How do they get people this stupid in the media? I guess it doesn't pay well.
'Look, I'm sorry, I've lived among people like you for too long. I don't mean to call you stupid; maybe you're just pretending to be.
My views are not bigoted against any group; they're honest, they're factual, and that's not hate, that's reality.
'How dare you try to tie me to some lunatic who murdered people? How dare you actually.'
![Tucker Carlson has called a female reported 'stupid' and unleashed on the ABC during an extraordinary rant at the Australian Freedom Conference on Tuesday (pictured)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/27/02/86624811-13574059-image-a-1_1719450403612.jpg)
Tucker Carlson has called a female reported 'stupid' and unleashed on the ABC during an extraordinary rant at the Australian Freedom Conference on Tuesday (pictured)
The reporter pressed further, suggesting that if Carlson opposed such a mass shooting he must therefore support gun control.
'What?! I thought it couldn't get dumber but it did,' he replied.
'No, I don't support disarming law-abiding people so they can't defend themselves, so the government has a monopoly on violence.
'A sovereign person has the right to defend himself and his family, period. That said, I'm opposed to harming anyone, anyone.'
![Carlson clashed with an AAP reporter at the Australian Freedom Conference (pictured)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/27/02/86625701-13574059-image-a-2_1719452806933.jpg)
Carlson clashed with an AAP reporter at the Australian Freedom Conference (pictured)
![Tucker Carlson accused the ABC of being 'corrupt' during a fiery rant in Canberra on Tuesday](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/27/02/86625699-13574059-image-a-4_1719453570439.jpg)
Tucker Carlson accused the ABC of being 'corrupt' during a fiery rant in Canberra on Tuesday
The reporter asked if Carlson felt any responsibility for hate crimes in the US.
'I'm sorry, I'm trying to be charitable. I was like, maybe you're just pretending to be dumb. Now I don't think it's an act,' he replied.
'I got here and the country is so unbelievably beautiful, and the people are so cheerful and funny and cool and smart. I'm like, your media has got to be better than ours.
'It can't just be a bunch of castrated robots reading questions from the boss, and then it turns out it's exactly the same. Maybe even a tiny bit dumber.'
The commentator answered questions from journalists after making a speech at the Australian Freedom Conference held at the Hyatt Hotel in Canberra on Tuesday.
Carlson said he 'resented' how media organisations and journalists were now aligning with governments and the powerful.
'I find it disgusting actually. It's a perfect inversion of what you're supposed to do,' he said.
'If you're a journalist, your job is to challenge power on behalf of the powerless, it's not to align with the powerful against the powerless.
'And that is precisely what you've done.'
He then targeted the ABC and the priorities of its reporting.
'I watched your ABC this morning in my hotel room for about 20 minutes, until I looked around for a vomit bag.
'It was one of the most grotesque... I couldn't even believe it was real.'
![Carlson was invited to the Australian Freedom Conference by mining billionaire Clive Palmer (the pair are pictured ahead of his nationwide speaking tour)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/06/27/02/86625719-13574059-image-a-3_1719452837988.jpg)
Carlson was invited to the Australian Freedom Conference by mining billionaire Clive Palmer (the pair are pictured ahead of his nationwide speaking tour)
'I sympathise with you guys who work for these (media) companies which are truly corrupt, and you sort of know that but you don't want to think about it because you've got kids and a mortgage.
'I get it, I've been there,' he told the crowd.
'But let's just be honest, everyone else knows what it is, everyone else knows how corrupt you are, and so there's a reason they have contempt for you.'
Carlson is currently on a speaking tour Down Under and attended the Australian Freedom Conference on the invitation of mining billionaire Clive Palmer.
Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce, Coalition senators Matt Canavan and Alex Antic and One Nation's Malcolm Roberts were attended the conference.