Tucker Carlson, bow-tied whiner plays "tough guy"

[Sauron]

WaPo, via Rawstory:

It all started with a simple video rental. Who knows where it will end?

Potomac Video store clerk Charles Williamson, 28, posted a message on his blog, Freelance Genius, Dec. 23 that described how he set up a movie rental account for MSNBC host Tucker Carlson at the MacArthur Boulevard store the day before.

"I could tell you what he and his ridiculously wasped-out female companion (wife?) rented if you really want to know," he wrote. "I won't tell you where he lives, though. That would be wrong and stupid." Williamson also joked that he wouldn't send 10,000 copies of Jon Stewart's best-selling political satire, "America (The Book)," to Carlson's home; Stewart ridiculed Carlson on "Crossfire" before the 2004 election.

A week later, Williamson had forgotten all about it, he told us yesterday. That is, until Carlson, 37, reappeared at the video store and, said Williamson, "got pretty aggressive." According to Williamson, Carlson confronted him about the blog and said he viewed the post as a threat to him and his wife. "He said, 'If you keep this [expletive] up, I will [expletive] destroy you,' " Williamson recalled.

Williamson said he agreed to remove the blog post and did so later that night: "All I remember thinking was I was worried about what this guy was going to do." He consulted a lawyer friend and was told he had probably not broken any laws. "What I said was pretty juvenile, I'll admit," he said.

In a phone interview Thursday, Carlson acknowledged that he approached Williamson in the store and said he was "very aggressive" because he wanted the post removed: "I don't like to call the police or call his boss. . . . I'm a libertarian. I'm not into that."

On Monday, Williamson said, his Potomac Video manager called and fired him. Williamson said he was told the company was threatened with legal action "and the owner doesn't like that." He re-posted the original Carlson item later that day. Williamson said he later learned that a man who identified himself as a lawyer for Carlson had been in the store and asked Potomac Video employees questions about him.

Carlson told us that he was concerned for the safety of his family, but did not threaten legal action against the company or push to have Williamson, who still has his office-manager day job, fired.

"He implied he was going to come and do something to my house," Carlson said. "I've got four kids at home and I've had serious problems with stalkers twice. . . . This guy is threatening to come to my house and I'm on the road all the time. What would you do? This guy is threatening my family."

Carlson said he took no further action and said he couldn't have called his lawyer because he doesn't have one.

"He's trying to make it sound like I'm this big, bad guy trying to hurt the video store clerk," he said. "I don't understand why he's hassling me. I just wanted to rent a Woody Allen movie."

A manager at Potomac Video told us the situation was "absurd" but refused to answer questions. The company's lawyer, Steven Kramer, said he is investigating the matter, but would not comment further.

Williamson told us Thursday that before the incident his blog usually received a handful of hits a day from friends and a few other bloggers. Wonkette.com linked to the post on Tuesday and, as of yesterday, over 6,700 readers had checked in.

"I'm just a guy with a blog," he said. "I live over MacArthur Boulevard and I go to work and sometimes I see famous people. . . . I blogged about seeing Karl Rove, and the Secret Service didn't knock down my door."

[Dingfod]

I personally think the blogger was stupid in this case. Whether or not he divulged Carlson's address, he should not have named a customer of his employer, no matter how famous or infamous.

[JaredM]

Actually, the clerk could not have legally disclosed what Calrson rented, as that would be a violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act, codified at 18 U.S.C. 2710.

So yes, the clerk was being pretty stupid. Though I must admit, this doesn't make me like Tucker Carlson any better.

[Sauron]

Originally Posted by JaredM

Actually, the clerk could not have legally disclosed what Calrson rented, as that would be a violation of the Video Privacy Protection Act, codified at 18 U.S.C. 2710.

So yes, the clerk was being pretty stupid. Though I must admit, this doesn't make me like Tucker Carlson any better.

The video rental clerk is a dumb kid. No argument.

My beef is that it's pretty clear that Tucker called a lawyer and set him upon the video rental clerk, and upon the employer. Yet when confronted with that, Tucker lied about it.

If there was a larval stage in the development of Bill O'Reilly, I'm pretty sure it must have resembled Tucker Carlson.

[Zehava]

I'm having a hard time seeing what this guy has done wrong, although I assume it is the "if you really want to know" comment, implying that by simply asking he will reveal protected information.

Nowhere though is there any evidence that he actually did reveal the information. He even shows some integrity by stating he won't reveal Tucker's address, "that would be wrong and stupid."

Tucker Carlson's response, though we only have the blogger's side of that story, is completely over the top. I didn't particularly like Tucker Carlson to begin with, but this level of asshattery is simply disturbing.

[TomJoe]

I think Tucker's response was acceptable. I also don't think he's lying as Sauron states.

[Clutch Munny]

Well, Tucker or one of his people phoning the management and saying, "We'd rather not make this a legal matter" could easily license both Tucker to say he didn't threaten a lawsuit and the clerk to say they did threaten a lawsuit. To raise an outcome in conversation is often to threaten it. "I'd rather not beat your face in" is, among other things, a way of noting that you are contemplating beating your audience's face in -- that this option is on your mind. That's a threat. "I'm not threatening to sue your ass" can easily be a way of threatening to sue.

[The Lone Ranger]

"Will no one relieve me of this turbulent video store clerk?"

[Clutch Munny]

Just so.