After earlier hints that Glenn Beck “sucked up” to Mark Zuckerberg during Wednesday’s meeting at Facebook HQ, Daily Caller editor-in-chief Tucker Carlson has gone further, saying the radio host acted like he wanted to be “Mark Zuckerberg’s manservant.”
In a comment to Politico, Carlson slammed Beck for his alleged brown-nosing of the Facebook CEO, suggesting that the conservative founder of The Blaze – a website beset by financial troubles – may be seeking to curry favour with Silicon Valley billionaires.
I went to that meeting expecting Beck to cry, rend his garments while quoting James Madison, but that’s not at all what happened. He began the most extended assiduous suck-up I think I’ve ever seen a grown man commit. He acted like he was auditioning to be Mark Zuckerberg’s manservant — it was awe-inspiring.
Carlson went on to speculate about Beck’s motivations:
I don’t know what his agenda is; it’s either he’s looking to put his tanking Web properties up for sale or he just can’t help himself. There’s a billionaire there, so he sniffs the throne.
These are the most damning comments yet from Carlson, who previously told FOX and Friends that a “radio host” at the meeting had “sucked up” to Zuck. Although Carlson didn’t name him, Beck was the only radio host present at Wednesday’s get-together, so his comments left little doubt as to who he was referring to.
On the same show, Carlson also highlighted that he personally pushed Facebook on the issue of their staff’s viewpoint diversity, an argument that Beck specifically called out in a lengthy article following the meeting.
Beck made considerable effort following Wednesday’s meeting to defend Facebook and praise Mark Zuckerberg. The radio host wrote that he was “disturbed” by the demands of his fellow conservatives at the meeting, who he accused of staging a “Salem Witch Trial” against the company.
When TIME asked him why he trusts Mark Zuckerberg, Beck said that the Facebook CEO “looks a man in the eye the entire time.”
He elaborated further on his radio show:
…the most important thing is he makes eye contact with everyone. If you’re talking, he’s staring dead into your eyes. If he’s talking to you, dead into your eyes. And it’s a little disconcerting at times because he’s not flamboyant so he has very few movements as he’s speaking and you can almost tell he’s using all of his energy for the gears in his head. As he’s listening to you know he’s making a thousand judgements on what you’re saying. He’s really listening… REALLY impressive guy.
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