Chuck Schumer rejects Tucker Carlson's invitation to debate him, citing Fox and Carlson's promotion of the racist 'replacement theory'

• Chuck Schumer said he would not appear on Tucker Carlson's program.
• Carlson, Schumer claimed, invited him on to discuss Schumer's attacks on Fox after the Buffalo shooting.
• "Tucker Carlson needs to stop promoting the racist, dangerous 'Replacement Theory," Schumer wrote on Twitter.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer rejected an offer on Tuesday to appear on Tucker Carlson's show to debate Carlson and Fox News' promotion of the racist "replacement theory" in the wake of the mass shooting in Buffalo, which is being investigated as a hate crime.

Schumer on Tuesday sent a letter to Fox's corporate executives demanding they "immediately cease all dissemination of false white nationalist, far-right conspiracy theories on your network." The Democrat said he refused to appear on Carlson's primetime program because the far-right Fox host has repeatedly pushed elements of the racist conspiracy theory claiming white people are being replaced by people of color.

".@TuckerCarlson invited me on his show tonight to debate the letter I sent to @FoxNews. I'm declining," Schumer wrote on Twitter. "Tucker Carlson needs to stop promoting the racist, dangerous 'Replacement Theory.'"

Schumer seized on a recent Times investigation that found Carlson promoted elements of the white supremacist theory in more than 400 episodes. Carlson has claimed that Democrats are importing immigrants from the "third world" to replace conservative Americans with more "obedient voters." An online screed reportedly attributed to the Buffalo shooter echoes elements of the "replacement theory."

"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 in the letter.

—Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 17, 2022

Others on the right have similarly claimed that Democrats and other elites are using immigration as a way to force demographic change on the nation and boost their electorate.

When reached for comment, a Fox News spokesperson pointed Insider to Carlson's monologue from his show Monday evening when he addressed some of the criticism he's received. Carlson did not mention "the replacement theory" directly. 

"What he wrote does not add up to a manifesto," Carlson said of the shooter's alleged statement, adding that he condemns racism. "It is not a blueprint for a new extremist political movement, much less the inspiration for racist revolution. Anyone who claims that it is lying or hasn't read it."