Don Lemon responds to ‘successful victim’ Tucker Carlson rant

Fox News anchor accused of ‘ignorance’ after rant about racism

CNN’s Don Lemon has responded to criticism from Tucker Carlson, the outlandish Fox News host, for calling him a “successful victim” of racism in America.

On Monday, the host of Tucker Carlson Tonight told viewers that the Black CNN broadcaster was “failing” and was a hypocrite for talking about racism because he did not live in low-income Section 8 housing.

It followed an interview in which Mr Lemon said there were “two different realities” for Black and white Americans.

Mr Lemon told CNN viewers on Tuesday that while he was against “punch[ing] down”, he had to call out the Fox News host for his “ignorance”.

“If you think that a Black person who doesn't live in public housing can’t experience or understand racism in this country, well, that just says much more about you and your ignorance on these issues than it does about me,” said Mr Lemon.

Mr Carlson had ridiculed the CNN broadcaster by asking “what on the victim scale, on the scale between Meghan Markle and Michelle Obama” was Mr Lemon, and revealed details of his $4.3 million home in Sag Harbor, New York.

“No, he does not live in Section 8 housing,” the Fox News host went on, “he lives in one of the whitest towns in America. In fact, 80 per cent of Sag Harbor is just 3 per cent African-American”.

It was also alleged that Mr Lemon had a “white supremacist QAnon cookie jar” on his counter at home, in remarks that confused critics of Mr Carlson, because they were unfounded.

The object appeared to be a ceramic jar with a caricature of a Black woman on the front, and were first manufactured in the 1930s and 1940s, before falling out of fashion because of accusations of racism.