The Daily Caller's founder and Editor-in-Chief Tucker Carlson dismissed questions about a controversial email revealing that his brother called New York City Major Bill de Blasio's female spokesperson a “self-righteous bitch” with “dick-fright” in response to her request for a correction in an article. Carlson responded that the comments were meant in the “nicest way.”
On March 25, BuzzFeed reported that a spokesperson for de Blasio, Amy Spitalnick, contacted the Daily Caller to request a correction on a story regarding comments made by de Blasio on public transportation funding. After an exchange of emails with senior editor Christopher Bedford, who called her whiny and annoying, Spitalnick contacted Tucker Carlson to complain about Bedford's “appalling” and dismissive response. Carlson replied Spitalnick that agreed that her tone was “whiny and annoying,” which he said was meant “in the spirit of helpful correction rather than criticism.”
Carlson's brother, Buckley Carlson and “political strategist” for the site, replied to Tucker's response in an email that accidentally copied Spitalnick. The email contained several sexist comments: describing her as a whiny “little self-righteous bitch,” with “extreme dick-fright,” and called her “LabiaFace”:
From: Buckley Carlson
Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2015 3:18 PM
To: Tucker Carlson; Spitalnick, Amy (OMB)
Subject: Re: Correction Needed
Great response. Whiny little self-righteous bitch. “Appalling?”
And with such an ironic name, too...Spitalnick? Ironic because you just know she has extreme dick-fright; no chance has this girl ever had a pearl necklace. Spoogeneck? I don't think so. More like LabiaFace.
--
Buckley Carlson
XXX-XXX-XXXX
The full exchange is available at BuzzFeed.
Tucker Carlson responded to a request for comment from BuzzFeed and Politico, saying that his brother has assured him he meant the comments “in the nicest way.”
The Daily Caller and its staff have a long and troubling history of sexist content. Tucker Carlson has downplayed sexual harassment and statutory rape of men as “whiny.” And reporter Patrick Howley has a history of pushing misogynistic rhetoric and once claimed that looking “looking at a woman's chest will legally be a 'hate' crime instead of a love crime.”