Tucker Carlson Vladimir Putin Interview

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Overview

Tucker Carlson Vladimir Putin Interview refers to American pundit Tucker Carlson and his trip to Russia in order to interview President Vladimir Putin. The interview took place on Tuesday, February 6th, 2024, and was aired on Thursday, February 8th through the Russian state media channel TASS and Carlson's website, as well as being posted to Twitter / X that day. Following the interview, numerous memes, discussions and other posts referencing the event appeared online, many of which revolved around Putin's lengthy talks about history in his responses.

Background

Tucker Carlson posted that he would go to Russia to interview Putin on February 6th, 2024, with a post to X that earned over 563,000 likes in the course of two days (seen below).^[1] In a February 8th Instagram post, Carlson confirmed the release of the interview on his website at 6 p.m. EST that same day.^[10]

The Kremlin confirmed Carlson's visit and his interview the same day, saying through a spokesperson that it agreed to the interview because it found much other Western coverage of the war in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin to be "one-sided."^[2]

Carlson's editorializing about Russia has often come under fire, with many arguing that he is pro-Putin.^[18] Russian state media has also frequently made use of Carlson's content. In March 2022, a memo from a Russian government agency to reporters and editors at state-run media organizations was leaked to outlets like Mother Jones and The Guardian. In the memo, under a section titled "Victory in Information War,"^[3] the government agency tells the state-run media that:

It is essential to use as much as possible fragments of broadcasts of the popular Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who sharply criticizes the actions of the United States [and] NATO …

Developments

Carlson Arrives In Moscow

Tucker Carlson's arrival in Moscow was reported on in Russian State media shortly after he landed there. According to the BBC, the evening Moscow newspaper published a picture of Carlson on its front page on the night of February 6th, 2024, with the headline, "He Comes from America, but He Speaks the Truth."^[7]

Footage of his doings in Moscow circulated online around the same timeframe. For example, X user @simonateba posted a video of Russian journalists asking Carlson questions as he got in a black van on his way to a dinner on February 7th, receiving over 34,000 likes in a day (seen below).^[8]

EU Parliament Sanctions Claim

On February 7th, 2024, a member of the European Parliament, Guy Verhofstadt, spoke to Newsweek about Carlson's voyage to Russia to interview Putin. Verhofstadt said that Carlson was a "propagandist" for Putin and he thought the EU should explore the idea of sanctioning Tucker Carlson.^[4]

These comments were reported and amplified in the media and online, with some misstating the significance of Verhofstadt's remarks. Since Verhofstadt is just one lawmaker in a larger legislative body, his views do not represent the EU as a whole and his idea is not official policy.

On February 7th, Elon Musk reposted a report falsely saying the EU "is seeking sanctions" against Carlson, earning over 206,000 likes on X in one day (seen below, left).^[5] Also on February 7th, Verhofstadt, in reply to Musk, posted a picture of Evan Gershkowitz, an American journalist currently jailed in Russia, receiving over 5,300 likes in a day (seen below, right).^[6]

Hillary Clinton Response

On February 7th, 2024, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke to MSNBC and was asked about Carlson. She called him a "useful idiot" and said that "certain people in this country are like a fifth column for Putin."

These comments were widely reposted and reported on, including by right-wing influencer Benny Johnson (seen below) who received over 17,000 likes in 15 hours on February 8th, 2024, for sharing the video.^[9]

The Interview

At 6:25 p.m. EST on February 8th, 2024, Tucker Carlson uploaded the interview and posted it to his X^[13] / Twitter account (@TuckerCarlson), titled "Ep. 73 The Vladimir Putin Interview." Within roughly 18 hours, the video received over 124 million views, with the post receiving over 782,000 likes, 248,000 reposts, 231,000 bookmarks and 56,000 replies (seen below).

After Carlson posted the official interview, Elon Musk reposted it and pinned it to his X account (seen below).^[21] Carlson introduced the interview by saying that while he thought Putin's long historical lecture was a "filibustering tactic," but upon further reflection (and realizing that there was no time limit not he interview) concluded it was actually "sincere."

Tucker Carlson Day

Following the release of the Carlson-Putin interview, some Russian posters including pro-Kremlin ones began posting memes celebrating the release of the interview as 'Tucker Carlson Day.' Some of these memes swapped in a cartoon character named Karlsson from a beloved Soviet animated series for Tucker Carlson.^[19] David Gilbert, a reporter at WIRED, wrote an article about the Russian state media's embrace of the Carlson/Putin interview and posted one of these memes on February 9th to X, receiving 25 likes in a few hours (seen below).^[20] In the cartoon, Karlsson is the mischievous imaginary friend of a lonely child.^[22]

Online Reactions

Following the interview between Tucker Carlson and Vladimir Putin in early February 2024, reactions to their discussion spread widely on social media, including numerous memes referencing it. For example, on February 8th, 2024, Redditor Addendum_Healthy made a post to the /r/NonCredibleDefense^[11] subreddit under the title "Had to think on that one for a moment," which included a clip from the interview (shown below). The post received over 3,900 upvotes and 460 comments in 17 hours.

On February 9th, a post on the /r/OutOfTheLoop^[12] subreddit asking, "What is going on with Tucker/Vladimir Putin? Why is a conservative American interviewing Putin as if he is misunderstood?" garnered over 1,600 upvotes and 730 comments in six hours, with the top-voted answer being:

Answer: They view liberals as anti Russian (for being pro Ukraine) therefore the US conservatives are now Putin’s biggest supporters. If a democrat says green they say red. That’s literally it, and they know their audience will eat it up.

Particular moments of the interview also saw significant discussion online. For example, when Putin suggested "you" were responsible for the blowing up of the NordStream pipeline, while pointing to Carlson, but actually meant Americans in general. The Russian Embassy in South Africa was one of several accounts which reposted this part of the interview, earning over 12,000 likes in one day on February 9th (seen below).^[20]

Memes About Putin's "History Lesson"

A significant portion of memes referencing the interview revolved around Vladimir Putin giving an extended history lesson about Russia when discussing the war in Ukraine with Tucker Carlson, which many users mocked as being long-winded and irrelevant. For example, on February 8th, 2024, X^[14] user @ArmandDoma posted a meme referencing The Tragedy of Darth Plagueis The Wise, receiving over 421,000 views and 14,000 likes in roughly 14 hours (seen below, left).

On February 9th, X^[15] user @tulpapilled posted another example from 4chan, which received over 239,000 views, 13,000 likes and 600 reposts in 11 hours (seen below, right).

Numerous memes in the same vein also appeared on Reddit. For example, on February 9th, 2024, Redditor Clovis_Merovingian posted one such meme to the /r/dankmemes^[16] subreddit, accumulating over 10,500 upvotes and 220 comments in nine hours (shown below, left). Also that day, Redditor Neat-Mathematician-8 posted a meme to /r/PoliticalCompassMemes^[17] that accumulated over 2,600 upvotes and 400 comments in eight hours (shown below, right).

Putin Starting Way Back

Putin Starting Way Back refers to memes parodying Russian President Vladimir Putin giving a nearly 30-minute background on Eastern European history going back to the 9th century during his February 2024 interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson. In memes, Vladimir Putin explains events, both real and fictional, by starting centuries earlier with seemingly irrelevant historical occurrences.

Tucker Carlson Looking at the Camera

Tucker Carlson Looking at the Camera, also known as Tucker Carlson Fourth Wall Break, refers to a moment during Tucker Carlson's interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which Carlson looked at the camera, furrowed his eyebrows and seemingly smirked at the viewer after Putin told him that he "would like to share a very interesting story" with him. A two-image meme format and GIF of the moment spread in memes on Twitter / X and elsewhere in February 2024.