Fact Check: Post Claims AOC Said 'You're a White Supremacist' If You Watch Tucker Carlson's Putin Interview. Here Are the Facts
Claim:
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted on X, "If you watch the Tucker Carlson interview today with Putin - you're a white supremacist."
Rating:
Context:
The in-question post was created by a parody account.
On Feb. 8, 2024, an account on X (previously Twitter) bearing the name and picture of Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez posted about Tucker Carlson, an American conservative commentator, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The post read, "If you watch the Tucker Carlson interview today with Putin - you're a white supremacist."
However, this post was not authored by the New York congresswoman. Rather, it was posted by the @AOCpressTwo account, which, according to its display name and bio, publishes parody content. (Ocasio-Cortez's real accounts on X are @AOC and @RepAOC.)
At least one user replied with a message suggesting they thought the post was authentic. That reply appeared to have received more likes than any other response — evidence that possibly suggested that other users, too, believed the parody post to be authentic.
The interview between Carlson and Putin was the Russian president's "first interview to a Western media figure since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago," according to The Associated Press. Carlson said in an Instagram post it would air on his website on Feb. 8 at 6 p.m. (ET).
Sources:
Troianovski, Anton, et al. “Tucker Carlson Says His Putin Interview Will Be Shown on Thursday.” The New York Times, 6 Feb. 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/06/world/europe/tucker-carlson-putin-interview.html.
‘Russia Says Former Fox News Host Tucker Carlson Has Interviewed Vladimir Putin’. AP News, 7 Feb. 2024, https://apnews.com/article/russia-putin-tucker-carlson-interview-6fb00b1f2d5f4bc639518b4a3445e1f8.