Company pulls ads from Tucker Carlson's show after 'poorer and dirtier' immigration comment

Pacific Life, an insurance company, announced Friday it was pulling advertisements from the Fox News program "Tucker Carlson Tonight" in response to a comment Carlson made about illegal immigration, according to The Hill.

"We will not be advertising on Mr. Carlson's program in the coming weeks as we reevaluate our relationship with his program," the company said in a statement posted on Twitter.

What Carlson said: Carlson was discussing the attitude of some leaders toward illegal immigration and the economic impact it has on the United States:

"Our leaders demand that you shut up and accept this. We have a moral obligation to admit the world's poor, they tell us, even if it makes our own country poorer, and dirtier, and more divided. Immigration is a form of atonement. Previous leaders of our country committed sins; we must pay for those sins by welcoming an endless chain of migrant caravans. That's the argument they make.
Somehow the immigration-as atonement idea has become the official position of virtually every guilty liberal in the United States. Our tech overlords, the ones always lecturing you, corporate America, Nancy Pelosi and Paul Ryan—they all believe this, and anyone who disagrees with them is denounced as a bigot and fired."

How Pacific Life responded: A Pacific Life advertisement played on the program right after Carlson's opening monologue. The ad said the company had been "protecting generations of families for 150 years."

Here's the company's full statement:

"Pacific Life's national advertising campaign runs on numerous networks and cable stations on a variety of news, business and sports programs. One of our ads appeared on Tucker Carlson's show last night following a segment where Mr. Carlson made a number of statements regarding immigration. As a company, we strongly disagree with Mr. Carlson's statements. Our customer base and our workforce reflect the diversity of our great nation, something we take great pride in. We will not be advertising on Mr. Carlson's show in the coming weeks as we reevaluate our relationship with his program."

Fox News issues a statement: A statement from the network attributed the controversy to efforts by left-wing groups to attack Fox News by petitioning advertisers.

"It is a shame that left wing advocacy groups, under the guise of being supposed 'media watchdogs' weaponize social media against companies in an effort to stifle free speech. We continue to stand by and work with our advertisers through these unfortunate and unnecessary distractions," the statement read.

This article was updated at 8:15 a.m. CST on 12/15/2018 to clarify Fox News's response to Pacific Life's decision.