Fox News host Tucker Carlson claims a man called his 19-year-old daughter a “whore” and a “fucking c–t” at a Virginia country club last month.
The resulting confrontation has led to the prospect of a legal fight, as the man, Juan Manuel Granados, who is represented by lawyer and potential Democratic presidential candidate Michael Avenatti, claims that Carlson assaulted him and says he might press charges.
In a statement this weekend, Carlson alleges Granados ran into his daughter walking back from the bathroom during a family dinner on Oct. 13 at the Farmington Country Club in Charlottesville, Va. Granados asked whether she was sitting with Carlson, and she replied that he was her father, which Carlson said prompted Granados to use the vulgar language
In response, Carlson said his son threw a glass of wine in Granados’ face while Carlson yelled expletives at the man. Granados’ membership at the club has since been revoked, Carlson wrote in the statement.
“I love my children. It took enormous self-control not to beat the man with a chair, which is what I wanted to do. I think any father can understand the overwhelming rage and shock that I felt seeing my teenage daughter attacked by a stranger,” Carlson said. “But I restrained myself. I did not assault this man, and neither did my son. That is a lie. Nor did I know the man was gay or Latino, not that it would have mattered. What happened on October 13 has nothing to do with identity politics. It was a grotesque violation of decency. I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.”
On Saturday, Avenatti, who says Granados is a “gay Latino immigrant,” shared a video of the incident at the center of the controversy, imploring witnesses to come forward if they had relevant information about the encount