Tucker Carlson apologizes for saying he dislikes Christian Zionists: 'I was mad'
Tucker Carlson apologized Monday for recently claiming he dislikes Christian Zionists "more than anybody" while labeling their beliefs about Israel "heresy" and a "brain virus."
During a 90-minute conversation with comedian Dave Smith, Carlson admitted that his comments during his controversial interview last week with far-right podcaster Nick Fuentes, who has praised Hitler and Stalin, were made out of anger and lacked the nuance he should have given them.
"I did say something that I really regret saying that I didn't fully mean," he said. "I said it because I was mad, which is always when I say things I don't really mean: when I get pissed. My wife's always telling me this."
"I was snippy, and I didn't explain it, and I said something to the effect of, 'I despise Christian Zionists,' and I'm just sorry that I said that, because I don't."
Christian Zionism, which emerges from a dispensationalist interpretation of the Bible, maintains that the founding of modern-day Israel in 1948 was a fulfillment of prophecy and a prerequisite for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, which often translates into political support for Israel.
Tucker Apologizes to Christian Zionists
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) November 4, 2025
“I want to be very specific about what I was talking about. In at least a couple of different occasions, the Israeli government bombed churches in Gaza and k*lled a bunch of Christians. Not an accident … And I found that, as a Christian,… pic.twitter.com/TKp5TCq1nT
During his interview last week with Fuentes — a 27-year-old political commentator who has espoused antisemitic, white nationalist and misogynist views — Carlson mentioned Christian Zionism in the context of responding to Fuentes' assertion that neoconservatism is inextricable with Jewish identity and emerged "from Jewish leftists who were mugged by reality when they saw the surprise attack in the Yom Kippur War."
Carlson, who once adhered to neoconservative interventionist foreign policy but has since expressed regret for supporting regime change wars when he was younger, responded to Fuentes' characterization of neoconservatism as intrinsically Jewish by noting that many non-Jewish Christian Zionists have also promoted it.
"Yeah, well, that's a lot of it for sure," Carlson said about the alleged Jewish element within neoconservatism, which first arose in the late 1960s and 1970s. "But then, like, how do you explain Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz? And there are a lot like that. John Bolton? I've known them all: George W. Bush, Karl Rove. All people I know personally, who I've seen be seized by this brain virus, and they're not Jewish. Most of them are self-described Christians."
"I can just say for myself, I dislike them more than anybody," Carlson said of Christian Zionists, who he claimed adhere to a "Christian heresy" that he says offends him as a Christian.
He went on to note that his support for the neoconservative worldview fizzled when he visited Iraq in 2003 as a reporter and witnessed the chaos in the wake of the U.S. invasion.
Carlson's interview with Fuentes stoked intense backlash among many Evangelicals and other conservatives, prompting accusations of antisemitism that Carlson has denied.
Though he never used the word "despise" during his remarks about Christian Zionists, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee responded to a viral tweet of Carlson's comments that used the term.
"Wasn't aware that Tucker despises me," Huckabee posted to X after Carlson’s comments went viral. "I do get that a lot from people not familiar with the Bible or history. Somehow I will survive the animosity."
Speaking with Smith, Carlson explained that he did not intend to disparage Christian Zionists as people, and claimed his remarks emerged out of his frustration with U.S. foreign policy and the alleged actions of the Israeli government against Christian churches during its war against Hamas.
"I'm mad at a certain kind of thinking," he said. "Some of the nicest people I know are Christian Zionists, actually. If you're in a car crash, they would save you. If you needed someone to watch your bank account, they wouldn't steal from you. They're really good people and sweet people."
Carlson went on to cite Israel's strikes against Hamas that also hit Christian churches in Gaza, which he claimed were "not an accident" and a major source of his anger. He also criticized what he described as the inadequate response of some U.S. leaders he spoke to about them.
"The response I got from every single one was, 'The Bible commands us to support Israel,'" he said. "And I said, 'So Jesus is telling us that we need to get on board with murdering Christians? Is that what you're saying?' And they're basically just like, 'Shut up.'"
Carlson said he found the attitude of using the Bible to shut down criticism of the Israeli government "extremely upsetting," and apologized for not clarifying that during his remarks with Fuentes.
Carlson notably clashed with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in June over whether God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:3 necessitates unconditional support for the modern Israeli government, which prompted debate among Christians regarding eschatology.
"We cannot support the murder of innocents," Carlson told Smith. "I don't care what the pretext is, that is not allowed in our religion; and if it is, then it's not my religion. That's not what the New Testament says at all. It's not even a close approximation of what it says."
"There's no justification for that in the New Testament, period. So I am distressed. I don't hate. I shouldn't have said 'despise,' but I'm very distressed about that, and that's specifically what I was talking about, so I just want to apologize sincerely for not being clearer."
During Israel's war against Hamas, the Israeli Defense Force conducted strikes that also hit three Christian churches in Gaza, according to reports from international organizations, news outlets and human rights groups.
Most recently, the Holy Family Catholic Church was shelled in July, which killed three and wounded 10 others, including the parish priest, according to church officials.
President Donald Trump reportedly expressed his frustration to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the incident, which Netanyahu claimed was an accident caused by "a stray ammunition."
Israeli officials have consistently denied deliberately bombing churches, claiming that their strikes targeted Hamas military infrastructure, but that the terrorist organization embedded assets in civilian areas to use them as human shields.
