After appearing on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” conservative radio talk show host Jesse Kelly is now under fire for controversial comments deemed by critics as racist, sexist and homophobic.
How it started: Carlson took a swing at Adm. Christopher Grady, who was appointed vice-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Dec. 17. Carlson addressed Grady’s claim that he would “value working with the military’s gender advisors if confirmed,” according to Rolling Stone.
- “This guy claims to be an admiral,” the television host said of the newly appointed officer. “The question really is: Will the gender advisors [who] Christopher Grady is in favor of make our military better?”
- Carlson then turned to his guest, Kelly, and asked him if more gender advisers would help the U.S. military compete with its Chinese counterpart.
- “Oh, there’s no question, Tucker,” Kelly replied. He then pointed out that China and Russia have developed hypersonic missiles that can “turn New York City to ash,” while Russia has satellites “that can push our satellites out of orbit and cripple our military.”
- “Our military, though, they’re focused on the important things,” Kelly continued. “We want to focus on climate change, and we definitely have to make sure there are enough tampons in the restrooms at the Pentagon.”
- “That’s kind of what they’re saying,” Carlson replied. “There’s a psychological term for this…t where there’s a massive real threat that you can’t deal with, so you scurry off and deal with imaginary threats to make yourself feel in control. That kind of feels like what we’re watching.”
- Kelly then said they are watching the “destruction of the U.S. military” and the death of “maybe hundreds of thousands of Americans.”
What happened next: The host of “The Jesse Kelly Show” then shared several thoughts which targeted Asians, the LGBTQ plus community and women serving in the military.
- “We don’t need a military that’s woman-friendly, that’s gay-friendly, with all due respect to the Air Force,” he said.
- Kelly declared that he wants the military to be filled with “Type A men” who “want to sit on a throne of Chinese skulls.”
- “But we don’t have that now,” he continued. “We can’t get women off of naval vessels, that should be step one, but most are already pregnant anyway.”
- Although the number of women joining the U.S. military has grown throughout the years, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study released last year discovered that “women are significantly more likely to leave the military earlier than their male counterparts,” according to Stars and Stripes.
- Some of the problems listed include sexism, sexual assault, and how the military approaches investigations of sexual assault.
- “For example, two females stated that the perpetrator was not punished, and another woman cited the lack of support from other service members as contributing to their decisions to separate from the military,” the GAO authors wrote.
- In a tweet posted last week, Kelly remained unapologetic for his comments, saying: “I’m the furthest thing in the world from being ‘anti-Asian.’ I’ve been a supporter of Lucy Liu for quite some time.”
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Public reaction: Many social media users took to Twitter to call out Kelly for his comments.
Featured Image via @jessekellydc
