Babbel, the company behind a language learning app, picked an unprompted fight with Tucker Carlson and Fox News responded by blasting them as a minor advertiser, accusing them of teaming up with “intolerant partisan activists.”
In what can only be described as bizarre, the official Twitter account for Babbel publicly blasted Carlson’s show and his fans as “repugnant” and “at odds with our mission and values.”
“If you saw our ad on Tucker Carlson’s show, you’re right to be upset,” the company announced to their social media followers. “We are too.”
Babbel then said they would be “blacklisting” the show going forward.
That’s right – the company whose entire business model is based on improving speech for those learning new languages admits they’re not big fans of free speech.
If you saw our ad on Tucker Carlson’s show, you’re right to be upset. We are too. While we did place our ad with Fox, we did not know it would air on a show so repugnant and at odds with our mission and values. We are blacklisting the show going forward. We are deeply sorry.
— Babbel USA (@BabbelUSA) April 30, 2019
As the company has fewer than 1,400 followers, they went attention seeking, tagging Sleeping Giants in a subsequent tweet, a group dedicated to censoring conservative voices through boycotts.
Fox News Responds
Fox wasted little time in taking Babbel to task for their ridiculous efforts to blackmail Carlson, his show, and the network.
“The millions of unduplicated viewers watching Tucker Carlson Tonight are extremely valuable to our advertisers,” a Fox News spokesperson said. “Our audience is not only deeply loyal to the brand, but to our top tier partners as well, of which Babbel is not one.”
In other words, don’t let the door hit you on the way out, bit player.
Thanks for letting me know to avoid your company at all costs. I don’t do business with cowards.
— The?FOO (@PolitiBunny) April 30, 2019
Fox didn’t let up.
“We will not allow voices like Tucker Carlson’s to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts from the intolerant partisan activists Media Matters, Sleeping Giants and Moveon.org whose only goal is to silence conservative thought they don’t agree with,” the statement continued.
It’s clear you also think the millions of hard-working Americans who watch Tucker’s show are repugnant as well
This is a contemptible tweet, @BabbelUSA, and the disrespect you’ve shown conservatives will not be forgotten soon
— Will Chamberlain ?? (@willchamberlain) April 30, 2019
Same Ol’ Song and Dance
This isn’t the first time that a company bowed down to political correctness and showed their belly rather than defending free speech, and it won’t be the last.
More importantly, it wasn’t the first or last time Fox News will insist on stepping up to defend their talented opinion hosts.
Fox has defended Laura Ingraham on multiple occasions from politically correct liberals demanding she be taken off the air using similar forceful language.
“We cannot and will not allow voices to be censored by agenda-driven intimidation efforts,” they said at the time.
If only American companies would operate using the same courage and spine in the face of the conservative speech police.
