‘It’s called freedom’: Fox’s Carlson & Hannity share AWKWARD moment of disagreement over Bezos wealth, and one is apologizing

Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity shared a visibly uncomfortable exchange as the latter questioned the former’s criticism of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos growing his net worth by a whopping $13 billion during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The tense moment between the two hosts followed a segment on Carlson’s show where he slammed news of Bezos’ increased wealth.

“But at least one person has become extremely rich [during the pandemic], richer than any man in history from all of this, including a lot of the suffering,” he said. “Now 20 years ago if that had happened, if a captain of industry had made $13 billion in a single day while the country got poorer, the Democratic Party would have something to say about it. Not anymore, because people getting rich are members of the Democratic Party.”

He then went on to say that Bezos was “pretty smart” in his decision to buy the Washington Post, as it guaranteed that he “never [gets] criticized.”

As Carlson’s show was ending and he was introducing Hannity’s program, the latter took a moment to push back against Carlson’s segment on Bezos.  

“People can make money,” Hannity said. “They provide goods and services people want, need, and desire. That’s America. It’s called freedom, capitalism, uh, and as long as it’s honest, right? People decide.”

Carlson was visibly confused by his colleague’s interjection, something many on social media were quick to point out, including the Daily Caller, the conservative news outlet Carlson co-founded in 2010.

Hannity later apologized for the “misunderstanding” to both Carlson and “the Fox audience,” and clarified he is not in favor of people taking economic advantage of the current pandemic.

While Carlson and Hannity, both of whom are facing sexual harassment allegations, are both often targets of the left and seen as aligned in their support for President Donald Trump, the two diverge on a number of issues. Hannity, for instance, was a media ally for George W. Bush’s administration, while Carlson became a sharp critic of many of the former president’s major decisions, like the Iraq War.

Some were quick to point out the difference in conservative beliefs between Carlson and Hannity. The Washington Examiner’s Emily Larson theorized the tense exchange between the two was representative of a larger struggle in the Republican Party between the “new populist right” and “free market conservatism.”

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