Tucker Carlson, once the most-watched host in conservative media, is again drawing outrage — this time for promoting a dangerous and entirely false antisemitic conspiracy. On his recent broadcast of The Tucker Carlson Show (Oct. 21–22, 2025), Carlson entertained the claim that COVID-19 was “engineered to spare Jews.” There is no scientific or factual basis for this assertion.
For centuries, antisemites have accused Jews of spreading — or being immune to — plagues. Now Carlson has repackaged that medieval lie for the digital age.
How the Conspiracy Started
Carlson hosted Andrew Huff, a self-described “whistleblower” who alleged that it was “scientifically true” that Jewish people were less affected by COVID-19. Instead of challenging the claim, Carlson amplified it, suggesting Huff was referring to “Sephardic and Ashkenazi” Jews — language that implied intentional genetic design.
The claim appears to originate from a 2023 New York Post story about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that was misreported and later debunked. Kennedy himself publicly denied saying anything about Jews being “spared” from COVID. (NY Post, Oct. 21, 2025; Yahoo News, Oct. 22, 2025).
On air, Carlson repeated the assertion that COVID-19 “may have been engineered to target some ethnicities while avoiding others,” specifically citing Jews. This rhetoric echoes centuries-old “blood libel” myths — the same conspiracies that fueled pogroms and antisemitic violence across Europe.
Andrew Huff offered no data, cited no peer-reviewed research, and referenced no credible scientific source. Carlson, despite his reputation for “asking tough questions,” failed to correct or challenge him.
What the Facts Actually Show
There is no evidence — none — that COVID-19 was designed to spare Jewish people, or that Jewish ancestry provides any special resistance. Multiple genetic studies across global populations show no link between ethnicity and COVID immunity (NY Post, Oct. 21, 2025).
Israel itself was hit hard by the virus. In late September 2020, its seven-day average reached 3.5 daily deaths per million residents, higher than the U.S. that same week (Times of Israel, Sept. 29, 2020). The idea that Israel or “the Jews” were somehow untouched is demonstrably false.
As former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told The Jerusalem Post, “COVID-19 was created by the CCP, but rather than ridicule the CCP, Tucker has managed to blame the Jews somehow.”
Carlson’s Pattern of Antisemitic Rhetoric
This isn’t the first time Carlson has courted antisemitism. In September, during a eulogy at Charlie Kirk’s funeral, Carlson spoke of “men eating hummus in a lamp-lit room plotting to silence truth-tellers” — language critics widely condemned as antisemitic (The Hill, Sept. 22, 2025).
And just days after his COVID segment, Carlson hosted white nationalist Nick Fuentes, agreeing that “our relationship with Israel hurts us,” while Fuentes ranted about “Zionist Jews” (Jerusalem Post, Oct. 29, 2025).
Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said plainly: “Tucker Carlson used Charlie Kirk’s funeral to spread antisemitic blood libels.”
The Real Danger
Carlson’s latest remarks are not just another media controversy — they are part of a long, dangerous pattern of normalizing antisemitic rhetoric under the guise of “questioning narratives.”
His claim that Jews were “spared” from COVID is a modern blood libel: baseless, reckless, and rooted in hate.
Conservatives who truly stand for truth — and who recognize Israel as America’s strongest ally — must reject these lies outright.
