Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged Fox News to “immediately cease the reckless amplification” of the “Great Replacement” theory.
Schumer penned a letter to Fox proprietor Rupert Murdoch and other executives at the network.
According to NPR, the “Great Replacement” is a “conspiracy theory that states that non-white individuals are being brought into the United States and other Western countries to ‘replace’ white voters to achieve a political agenda.”
Schumer wrote in the letter, “I write to urge you to immediately cease the reckless amplification of the so-called ‘Great Replacement’ theory on your network’s broadcasts.”
He added, “For years, these types of beliefs have existed at the fringes of American life. However, this pernicious theory, which has no basis in fact, has been injected into the mainstream thanks in large part to a dangerous level of amplification by your network and its anchors.”
The letter goes on to reference a recent poll from The Associated Press that shows the network’s viewers are “nearly three times more likely” to believe in the theory than other networks.
“I urge you to take into consideration the very real impacts of the dangerous rhetoric being broadcast on your network on a nightly basis,” Schumer wrote.
Concluding his letter, Schumer implored the network to “immediately cease all dissemination of false white nationalist, far-right conspiracy theories on your network.”
Read Schumer’s letter below:
In a letter to Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, Fox CEO Suzanne Scott, and Fox president Jay Wallace, Chuck Schumer says he urges Fox News to "immediately cease the reckless amplification of the so-called 'Great Replacement’ theory…" pic.twitter.com/9FbUYrMtBi
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) May 17, 2022
The letter comes just one day after ABC News reported the alleged Buffalo gunman is believed to have posted a 180-page document focused on the “replacement theory,” citing authorities.
The 18-year-old suspect allegedly shot and killed 10 people and injured another three at a supermarket over the weekend.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre commented on the concept Tuesday.
“The people who spread this filth, they know who they are and they should be ashamed of themselves, but I’m not going to give them or their noxious ideas they are pushing the attention that they desperately want,” she told reporters.
Jean-Pierre added, “Every leader should condemn that hate and certainly not echo it. We’re going to focus on what unites us as Americans.”
