Anti-Defamation League CEO reveals he is working with Ted Cruz to ‘take down’ Tucker Carlson

Emily Crane | AOL
Jan 15
3 min read

Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt has revealed he is working behind the scenes with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx) and others to take down “revolting lunatics” like Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes.

“I think the only way we are going to defeat the rise in antisemitism on the right is from the right,” Greenblatt said during a panel interview at a Los Angeles synagogue on Wednesday.

Jonathan Greenblatt, national director and CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, speaks during an interview at the ADL Investigative Research Lab in New York City on Sept. 25, 2024. Michael Nagle

“Nick Fuentes is disgusting, Tucker Carlson is disgusting, Candace Owens is disgusting, and so on, but there have been good people like Ted Cruz and Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin [and] Speaker [Mike] Johnson pushing back on these revolting lunatics.”

Greenblatt went on to say he was helping the lawmakers and conservative personalities “behind the scenes” in a bid to get social media platforms to crack down on antisemitism and hate-filled speech.

“We definitely are working a lot to try to get the platforms to kind of enforce their own terms of service so that we can pull down the most offensive hate speech or get them to do it,” he said.

“What I try to do at ADL, what we try to do is provide data, is to provide tools, is to step up often quietly behind the scenes.”

Last month, Carlson was named “Antisemite of the Year” by StopAntisemitism, a prominent Jewish civil rights group, for offering platforms to Jew-haters and -bashers on his show.

Carlson has come under fire for interviewing Palestinian pastor Munther Isaac, who refers to Israel as a “terrorist entity,” and Holocaust revisionist Darryl Cooper, who claimed the Nazis didn’t intend to kill Jews.

The political commentator praised Cooper as “the best and most honest popular historian in the United States,” the group said.

The biggest backlash Carlson has faced was hosting Fuentes, with the white nationalist telling the host he was a “fan” of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, who promoted policies that discriminated against Jews.

Carlson himself also slammed “Christian Zionists” for supporting Israel, saying they had been “seized by this brain virus” during the chat — singling out former President George W. Bush, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and Sen. Cruz.

Tucker Carlson speaks during AmericaFest, the first Turning Point USA summit since the death of Charlie Kirk, in Phoenix, Arizona, on Dec. 18, 2025. REUTERS

Greenblatt, who has repeatedly publicly bashed both Carlson and Fuentes for their hate-filled antics, also ripped left-wing commentator Hasan Piker — ripping him as a “revolting person” who should be called “Hamas Piker.”

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks at the White House after President Donald Trump announced a $6.25 billion pledge by Michael and Susan Dell for “Trump accounts,” on Dec. 2, 2025. YURI GRIPAS/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock

“He’s just a putrid– says horrible slanderous things about Jews, about Zionists, about Israel,” the ADL boss alleged.

“You might not know Hasan Piker, but if your kids are watching video games, you better believe they do, because on Twitch and on Steam he’s everywhere, let alone on YouTube and Insta.”Carlson, for his part, fired back at Greenblatt’s comments after they started spreading on social media.

“Republican senator/presidential candidate working with the anti-white ADL to suppress speech. You can see why people begin to wonder about the system we currently have,” Carlson said on X.