MATT WILSTEIN (HOST): Another thing I learned about you in this episode that I didn't know before is you're a leader of antifa.
W. KAMAU BELL: Yeah, I learned that too from Tucker Carlson.
WILSTEIN: So yeah, so you have the clip in the show of him talking about you on his show, which, was that flattering or what did you think when you saw that?
BELL: Oh, fuck him.
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BELL: It did significantly affect my life.
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I had gigs on the road and so then we started talking about getting security for the gigs, and I remember I did a gig in Arkansas, I think it was around this time, and I got to the airport and I was picked up by the police and taken to the gig. That had never happened before. I met like 15 cops who were at the gig. This one Black cop came up to me and he was like, “I really like your work,” and I was like, “Can I ask you a question? Do you guys do this all the time or is this a special case?” And he sort of smiled like eh, and I was like, “Got it, special case.”
It literally -- it effected my life in a way that I felt less safe in my world because of what Tucker Carlson did. Because, you know, he's accusing me of peddling hate which is, you know, pot calling the kettle “Tucker Carlson.” That's exactly what his show does is peddling hate. And as I talked about it more, I heard from lots of people who aren't blue check mark people with TV shows who were like, “He did that to me and it did make my life worse,” and they didn't have a platform to speak from about it.
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BELL: There's no circumstance in which I would [appear on Fox News.] I'd rather talk to the Klan again, at least they're honest.
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BELL: I don't think Fox News is a legitimate news organization. Maybe there's like a -- Maybe I hear Shepard Smith has a good hour, maybe during that hour it's OK, but I don't believe as a whole that they are a legitimate news organization in that they're not putting their -- every news organization has a bias. I'm not trying to say there is an unbiased news organization, but I believe that Fox News, especially the night time shows peddle in lies and misinformation and targeting people and sort of like mocking the weak and mocking the afflicted. That's what they do.
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BELL: Hate sells, you know. Misinform -- when you're not adhering to the facts, it's easy to create good programming.
WILSTEIN: Right, right.
BELL: You know, so NBC gets more viewers than that because they make a lot of fictional television. So Fox News is more of an entertainment channel then they are a news channel because some people like to be entertained by hate.
