Dinesh D’Souza is calling for Fox News Channel‘s CEO to address the “abusive” exchange with Tucker Carlson‘s show producer Justin Wells for blacklisting “2000 Mules.”
The author and filmmaker posted a lengthy Twitter thread with quotes from Wells about the exchange, demanding an apology from Carlson and the producer.
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“I’m really not quite sure what is going on at Fox. I’m not quite sure if this is some kind of generic Fox ban on mentioning the movie. I’m not sure if there’s something specific to Tucker.
He discussed the exchange on “The Jenna Ellis Show” Thursday (18:46 – 20:31):
This was a little bit about bad blood that went back several months in which one of our teaser trailers — Tucker was going to have Catherine Engelbrecht on, and she said, ‘Oh, we have this great teaser trailer for the movie,’ and then the Tucker people said to me, ‘Dinesh, we’re going to have to cut your trailer from 90 seconds to 45 seconds,’ and I’m like yeah, sure, you want the front part or the back part, and they’re like, ‘No, no, we want the middle part,’ and I was like, the middle part? So you want to cut out this, Salem Media, and then you want to cut out the fact that it’s part of a movie, so you’re basically stealing our content, pretending like you produced the segment. I go that’s not really fair, so why don’t you just have Catherine on, don’t show the clip because it’s not your clip. If you’re going to show it then you kind of need to say it’s part of a movie and so on, and then they became unbelievably — not Tucker — this was his producer, Justin B. Wells. He’s like, ‘Oh, Dinesh, you’re finished. You’ll never be on Tucker ever again.’ Abusive type of behavior. And the problem is when you have a network that’s the only place to go, I think it encourages this kind of arrogance where people basically feel like they can brutalize you because, ultimately, you’re going to shut up and take it becuase, otherwise, you’re going to be banned on Fox News. So I decided, I’m not going to say anything about it, but then when recently, Catherine Engelbrecht went back on Tucker, and they specifically told her don’t say a word about that movie, I thought, well this is a little too much. The movie is now out. People are talking about it, and think of how weird Tucker’s segment was discussing the content of the movie under explicit directives not to mention it. Very creepy.
Below is D’Souza’s full Twitter thread:
I’m releasing this exchange because it’s the backstory to understand why Tucker recently had on Catherine Engelbrecht of True the Vote. She was instructed not to mention “2000 Mules” even though the movie was out and the whole discussion centered around the material in the movie
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 13, 2022
One of Tucker’s producers–a guy named Alex–told me they couldn’t run the 90 second trailer. They wanted to use just 45 seconds. Turned out they wanted to cut out my name, Salem Media, and any reference to the movie
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 13, 2022
“Dinish. Justin Wells here. VP and EP of everything in the Tucker world. I just want you to know that I/we won’t forget your little stunt today. If you want to decide how much time to give content on the most watched show in America–then I suggest you produce one in the future..
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 13, 2022
My reply: “Justin–I told Alex IN ADVANCE that we were offering the trailer as a single piece. I made it clear we did not want it cut. So there were no surprises here. No stunt. You guys want to take our content that we produce at considerable expense and effort…
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 13, 2022
Justin Wells: “We booked Catherine ages ago. The segment came through her. The trailer and everything happened this week. We wanted to help you out. We would have made reference to the film. Absolutely…
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 13, 2022
“I don’t take your tactics/stunt or a-hole move lightly. If you want a full 90 seconds for your trailer then buy an add (sic) on the show for a full 90 seconds. No more free ads for you. Thanks for trying though.”
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 13, 2022
“You knew what my terms were but decided to go a different route. That’s fine. But I am at liberty, am I not, to hold to my original condition? I didn’t mess up your schedule…
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 13, 2022
“So this is not about who lives in a fantasy world. I don’t and I’m not suggesting you do either. I’m just trying to make the case for the consistency and reasonableness of my position.”
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 13, 2022
“I suspect the Today show cut the Titanic trailer when they had Leo and Kate on back in 1996. Who are you to create bogus terms on length of promotional content when we’re trying to help you out?
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 13, 2022
End of exchange. I’ll conclude with just a couple of observations about this sorry encounter. Contrast my attempt to be civil and decent throughout with Wells’ abusive tone. Note also that Wells makes it clear (“I/we”) he’s speaking for both him and Tucker.
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 13, 2022
At the very least I believe I’m owed an apology by Wells and Tucker. If it’s Wells acting on his own, and if this guy is so out of control that he can’t deal in a civil manner with people, why does Fox keep him? He’s giving the company a very bad name
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 13, 2022
The movie is important because of the issues it raises. Without honest elections we’re no longer a constitutional democracy. The country is at stake. Fox is an important force for good and so is Tucker. I’m hoping that both will rise above pettiness here and do the right thing
— Dinesh D’Souza (@DineshDSouza) May 13, 2022
