Why did Tucker Carlson lead a women's NRA forum?

Elise Solé
Fox News host Tucker Carlson was chosen to speak at an NRA women’s form and the internet is asking, “Why?” (Photo: Getty Images)
Fox News host Tucker Carlson was chosen to speak at an NRA women’s form and the internet is asking, “Why?” (Photo: Getty Images)

The internet is perplexed about a flyer for a women’s leadership forum that features Tucker Carlson, a conservative male political commenter.

On Friday, the 12th Annual NRA Women’s Leadership Forum Luncheon & Auction took place at the Omni Hotel in Dallas, Tex., and despite the event serving to connect philanthropic women united in their goal to protect the Second Amendment, Carlson had been chosen as a featured speaker — and cover boy — notably for his “razor-sharp wit, keen intellect, and no-holds-barred take on all things political.”

Twitter had emotions.

Representatives from the Women’s Leadership Forum did not return Yahoo Lifestyle’s request for comment. However, as Salon initially pointed out when the news broke, Carlson, host of Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News, has a history of airing anti-feminist viewpoints, be it his series Men in America, which he ran during Women’s History Month in March in which he attempted to deny the existence of feminism; his assertion that a female teacher having sex with an underage boy isn’t rape; or his claim that Democrats “made up” the notion of sexual harassment.

During the presidential campaign when footage of President Trump making his “Grab ‘em by the p***sy” comments went viral, Carlson called the backlash “manufactured” outrage. And he said the Mar. 8th nationwide strike “A Day Without Women” to highlight women’s societal contributions was “obviously an attack on white men.”

“Tucker Carlson is not a surprising choice for the luncheon because it’s hand-in-glove with the misogyny we see from the NRA, whether it’s mocking gun survivors or activists, comparing women’s bodies to AR-15s, or blaming women for their own sexual assault by pointing to the fact that they were unarmed,” Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “One example of that is mocking Kim Kardashian after she was held at gunpoint in Paris.”

The truth is, says Watts, is that the NRA employs very few women and only 12 to 18 percent of gun owners are female. So this conference, along with the organization’s “concealed-carry” fashion show, which last year featured bra holsters, is likely a way to attract more women and open new revenue streams. “Maybe next year,” says Watts, “the NRA will find a woman to speak at its leadership forum.”

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