Tucker Carlson hatefully mocks AOC’s Capitol riot rape fears in on-air rant: ‘Get a therapist, honey’

Fox News prime time host Tucker Carlson on Thursday mocked Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over her fear that she could have been raped during the 6 January riots.

During a segment in which Mr Carlson criticized lawmakers for defending the police officer who killed Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt, he also sneered at Ms Ocasio-Cortez for an interview she gave to news channel CNN.

Mr Carlson said AOC, as the congresswoman is fondly known, should “get a therapist”.

Derisively referring to her as “Sandy”, Mr Carlson said: “During a recent special on CNN, Sandy Cortez – does she ever stop talking about herself, by the way? – she explained she wasn’t simply afraid of being murdered by Ashli Babbitt, she was also worried about being raped.”

Babbitt, air force veteran was part of a mob of rioters who supported former US president Donald Trump and stormed the US Capitol building on 6 January in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election results.

She was shot by a Capitol police officer as she was forcing her way through a broken glass door near the speaker’s lobby and later died from injuries.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who was barricaded inside her office during the Capitol insurrection, told CNN’s Dana Bash that she not only feared for her life, but also that there may be “a lot of sexualising of that violence”.

“I didn’t think that I was just going to be killed. I thought other things were going to happen to me as well,” she said in the interview.

“So it sounds like what you are telling me right now is that you didn’t only think that you were going to die. You thought you were going to be raped,” replied Ms Bash. “Yeah,” said the congresswoman. “Yeah, I thought I was.”

“Sexualising? Get a therapist, honey! This is crazy,” said Mr Carlson, dismissing her experience of the riots.

“These people were mad because they thought the election wasn’t fair. Now you may disagree with that but it wasn’t about you. Surprise, surprise. ‘Sexualising the violence. I was going to be raped by Ashli Babbit’,” said Mr Carlson, mocking the lawmaker.

“Imagine this was said by a Republican about Black Lives Matter rioters across the country, Kenosha, Green Bay, Wisconsin! What would happen if some Karen said that?” Carlson continued. “Sexualised violence... Could you imagine? You could go to jail for that. But Sandy Cortez could say that because the people rioting on 6 January had the wrong political views.”

Mr Carlson was slammed on social media for ridiculing the lawmaker’s fear. “ This is Tucker Carlson today laughing at [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] fears of being raped on January 6. He laughs about it. This is disgusting and I hope [Fox News] and their advertisers are hit with backlash from millions of people,” wrote author Don Winslow.

“ At what point is this man deemed ‘dangerous’? I mean, everything he says in this clip is divisive at best and deeply toxic, bordering on inciting violence at worst. Seriously, how can this be allowed to air on national television without caveat or consequence?” asked another user.