For Fox News host Tucker Carlson, there’s an existential threat to the future of the human race to which he’s now alerting his viewers? Nope, not climate change—because this is Tucker Carlson we’re talking about—but falling sperm counts caused in part by lots of pandemic-fueled marijuana use.
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As The Wrap reported, watching the segment so you don’t have to, Carlson began by noting, “So we spent the last year hearing about a health crisis, a pandemic, but there are a lot of health crises.” He then said, “This may be the biggest one. Falling testosterone levels, which have completely reshaped our society.”
Then, he transitioned from alarming viewers about what falling testosterone levels might mean for our society, as it’s possibly the biggest health crisis compared to the one that’s killed more than 500,000 Americans in the span of a year.
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“Falling sperm counts,” he noted, “which may make it impossible to continue the human race. Why is this happening? Probably because of chemicals in our environment. According to one scientist, sperm counts in the western world have dropped 59% between 1973 and 2011. At this pace sperm counts will reach zero by 2045. No one talks about this. Everybody should be.”
The scientist he’s referring to, epidemiologist Shanna Swan, co-authored a book that, as the Guardian reports, has a warning worth heeding: “Of five possible criteria for what makes a species endangered, only one needs to be met; the current state of affairs for humans meets at least three.”
But that’s not exactly where Carlson went, instead opting for a guest, Fox News medical contributor Marc Siegel, who talked about “lockdown libido,” drinking, and weed.
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“I’m actually more concerned about something right now, Tucker, that also involves falling sperm counts. And that’s lockdown libido,” Siegel said, while Carlson kept a straight face.
“Lockdown libido occurs when everybody is shut down for too long. You know what they do? They gain weight. They get obese. You know what obesity does? Drives down testosterone and sperm counts. You drink more alcohol. You know what alcohol does? It makes estrogen out of testosterone, your sperm counts drop.”
Then, after touching on the evils of smoking cigarettes and vaping, he noted, “And probably the biggest culprit of all, according to reproductive specialists I spoke to tonight, smoking marijuana. Drives down sperm count,” Siegel said. “So you’re at home, you’re not even looking at your your loved one because despair, the depression has replaced romance. There’s gonna be no baby bump coming out of this pandemic.”
This very dystopian view of pandemic life doesn’t also quite correlate to what scientists are finding.
The Wrap linked to a 2019 study, published by Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, showing that marijuana use actually leads to a higher sperm count.
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Seigel concluded his interview by noting that, “There’s something that I’m dealing with, that my grandfather didn’t deal with, that hunter-gatherers don’t deal with, and it’s not the chemicals in the environment, Tucker. It’s LOCKDOWNS! LOCKDOWNS DRIVE DOWN SPERM COUNT!”
As James Shannon observed, “The dude on the right ended the segment by yelling, “LOCKDOWNS! LOCKDOWNS DRIVE DOWN SPERM COUNT!” Tucker Carlson was completely unfazed and went to commercial. The good news about this is that I now know to invest in gold from the first commercial!”
Needless to say, Carlson got mocked for the segment:
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*First Published: March 2, 2021, 12:12 pm
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