Tucker Carlson criticised over interview with criminal who claims he had gay sex with Barack Obama
Tucker Carlson is facing backlash for interviewing Larry Sinclair (Tucker Carlson on X)
Tucker Carlson is facing a backlash once again, this time for interviewing a convicted conman, who claimed he took drugs and had sex with Barack Obama.
On Wednesday (6 September), in a promotional clip shared on X – previously known as Twitter – the ousted Fox News presenter teased an interview with Larry Sinclair, a man who has made unsubstantiated claims for years that he smoked cocaine and had sex with the former president in 1999, when Obama was an Illinois state senator.
In the interview clip, Sinclair alleges he gave Obama $250 to purchase drugs, which the pair took and then engaged in sexual activity.
Carlson describes Sinclair’s claims as “credible information that [Obama is] smoking crack and having sex with dudes”.
Sinclair, however, has never been able to prove any of his claims and independent fact-checkers been unable to verify his story.
His allegations are compounded by the fact he has a long criminal record, dating back to the 1980s, including convictions for forgery, fraud and larceny, and has served prison sentences in the states of Arizona, Florida and Colorado.
In addition, in the early 2000s, Sinclair signed an affidavit stating he is “terminally ill”, seemingly in the hope of getting a warrant dismissed.
X users were quick to criticise Carlson for giving a platform to the convicted criminal, as well as dredging up conspiracy theories which reek of homophobia.
“Tucker Carlson and his kind are still angry Barack Obama is first Black US president,” author, lawyer and activist Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu said.
“They questioned his birth certificate, called him Muslim, got mad he wore a tan suit, lied about his policies etc. Now [they] claim he took drugs and got a blow job.
“Racism, homophobia, Islamophobia et al.”
One social media user said the interview, which focuses on a politician who has not been in office for seven years, shows “how low Tucker Carlson has fallen”.
influencer Matt Bernstein wrote in a tongue-in-cheek post: “Tucker Carlson… has a history of reporting LGBT stories with honesty and integrity.”
Meanwhile, liberal fake-news website the Palmer Report said: “Tucker Carlson’s relevance ended the minute he lost his spot on cable news. Now, like so many irrelevant has-beens, he’s resorting to humiliating himself with nonsensical antics in a desperate attempt at getting people to remember he exists. I wouldn’t worry about it. He’s done.”
Sinclair’s history
Sinclair’s stories began in 2008 when Obama was running for president.
That year, Sinclair gave a speech at the National Press Club where he aired his claims about the Democrat, saying they had sex in a limo and in a hotel room.
In response, Obama supporters tipped police off about his appearance and Sinclair was arrested on an open warrant from Delaware.
At the time, political blogger for the now-defunct whitehouse.com, Daniel Parisi, challenged Sinclair to take a lie detector test.
The results indicated Sinclair had lied.
Sinclair then alleged that an anonymous tipster told him Parisi had rigged the polygraph with help from Obama’s adviser, David Axelrod.
