Tucker Carlson apologized Monday for recently claiming he dislikes Christian Zionists “more than anybody” while labeling their beliefs about Israel “heresy” and a “brain virus.”
During a 90-minute conversation with comedian Dave Smith, Carlson admitted that his comments during his controversial interview last week with far-right podcaster Nick Fuentes, who has praised Hitler and Stalin, were made out of anger and lacked the nuance he should have given them.
“I did say something that I really regret saying that I didn’t fully mean,” he said. “I said it because I was mad, which is always when I say things I don’t really mean: when I get pissed. My wife’s always telling me this.”
“I was snippy, and I didn’t explain it, and I said something to the effect of, ‘I despise Christian Zionists,’ and I’m just sorry that I said that, because I don’t.”
Christian Zionism, which emerges from a dispensationalist interpretation of the Bible, maintains that the founding of modern-day Israel in 1948 was a fulfillment of prophecy and a prerequisite for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, which often translates into political support for Israel.
