by Stacy Jackson

March 22, 2023

Simon Ateba Justifies Briefing Outbursts During Interview With Fox News’ Tucker Carlson

Throwing tantrums and continuous interruptions sounds like someone may have needed to excuse themselves.

Simon Ateba, a correspondent for Today News Africa, showed out during Monday’s White House press briefing.

Sources shared that Ateba interrupted the briefing with an outburst of claims that he and other journalists have been discriminated against, insisting he has never been called on to ask his questions. Ateba has been an annoyance to Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in previous situations. Yesterday, as the cast of the comedy series Ted Lasso stood behind her to discuss mental health, she took time to address Ateba’s poor decorum in the room.

“I understand that there’s going to be give-and-take,” Jean-Pierre said. “That’s the way the press briefing has gone for decades before me, and I will always, always respect that, but what I will not, what I will not appreciate is disrespecting your colleagues and disrespecting guests who are here to talk, who were here to talk an incredibly important issue which is mental health. And what has just occurred this last 10, 15 minutes is unacceptable.”

Ateba dragged his excuses to an interview on Fox News’s Tucker Carlson Tonight, where he tried to use the First Amendment to justify his behavior.

“The First Amendment says that I have the right to ask questions—to do my job,” he told Carlson before making further comments about Jean-Pierre.

“[She] doesn’t need to like me, date me, marry me, have two Black children with me. She doesn’t need all that,” Ateba said. “She doesn’t even need to like my accent—doesn’t even need to like what I look like [or] where I come from. They look down on me. They don’t respect the First Amendment.”

Ateba threw race into his spiel, comparing his position to CNN reporter Jim Acosta, who is known for calling out members of the Trump administration. “When it happens to Jim Acosta of CNN—because they respect him, he’s white [and] he works for CNN. I’m Black, I’m African, [and] I don’t have money,” he said. “They don’t treat me the same way.”

Ateba thanked Carlson in a message he posted to Twitter following the interview.


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