The Heritage Foundation has become the subject of controversy after the foundation’s president, Dr. Kevin D. Roberts, released a video refuting rumors that the venerable conservative organization was distancing itself from Tucker Carlson after the former Fox News host interviewed political streamer Nick Fuentes on his podcast, the Tucker Carlson Show. 

Fuentes, an antisemitic political commentator who has praised Hitler and Stalin, advocated for transforming the United States into a Catholic monarchy, and supports banning interracial marriage, joined Tucker Monday for his highest-profile appearance yet, where the two cordially discussed Fuentes’s life and political opinions, including his criticisms of Israel. The interview drew condemnation from a range of sources who argued that Carlson’s platforming of Fuentes was destructive and beyond the pale of acceptable political opinion. 

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The controversy expanded when the Heritage Foundation’s President Roberts released a video Thursday addressing rumors that Heritage was distancing itself from Carlson after a picture with Carlson in it disappeared from the foundation’s website. “We will always defend truth. We will always defend America. And we will always defend our friends against the slander of bad actors who serve someone else’s agenda,” Dr. Roberts said. “That includes Tucker Carlson, who… always will be a close friend of the Heritage Foundation.” Roberts also defended Carlson’s criticisms of Israel as a legitimate conservative viewpoint.

Roberts argued that deplatforming Fuentes was not a productive approach to confronting what he agreed were unacceptable political opinions. “I disagree with, and even abhor, things Nick Fuentes has said, but cancelling him is not the answer either,” Roberts said. “When we disagree with a person’s thoughts and opinions, we challenge those ideas and debate.”

In another post on X published Friday, Roberts further elaborated on which of Fuentes’s views he finds unacceptable, noting among other things his antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and racism. 

“Our task is to confront and challenge those poisonous ideas at every turn to prevent them from taking America to a very dark place,” said Roberts. “Join us—not to cancel—but to guide, challenge, and strengthen the conversation, and be confident as I am that our best ideas at the heart of western civilization will prevail.”