Tucker Carlson issued an apology Saturday evening after falsely claiming Israeli President Isaac Herzog visited Little St. James, the private island owned by the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The retraction followed an interview with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, during which Carlson referenced a digitally altered image purporting to show Herzog on the island.
“They didn’t recognize each other, they never emailed with each other, never been in the same room. They had no relationship of any kind,” Carlson stated in a two-minute video posted on X, referring to Herzog and Epstein. The apology came after Carlson said he received a “long letter” from Herzog’s team refuting the allegations.
During his initial interview with Huckabee, Carlson had claimed, “The current president of Israel, whom I know you know, apparently was at ‘Pedo Island.’ That’s what it says,” referencing an image posted by Times of London reporter Gabrielle Weiniger, who subsequently admitted the photograph was fabricated. Carlson further suggested that “still-living, high-level Israeli officials are directly implicated in Epstein’s life, if not his crimes.”
Carlson, who has faced accusations of antisemitism and has been a vocal critic of U.S.-Israel policy, described the response from Herzog’s office as unusually forceful. “And so for that reason, we are taking it seriously. There is nothing worse than impugning the reputation of an innocent man,” he told Huckabee. “So I just want to say clearly I’m sorry to imply that I knew something I didn’t know — of course I didn’t know that Isaac Herzog was on that island.” He clarified that he had been referring to the circulated image and related protests, but did not possess independent knowledge of Herzog’s presence on the island.
Epstein, who was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges, died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019. His ownership of Little St. James in the U.S. Virgin Islands brought intense scrutiny to his activities and alleged crimes.
The incident follows a recent controversy surrounding Carlson’s trip to Israel, where he alleged he was “detained” by airport security at Ben Gurion Airport. Security footage later emerged showing Carlson interacting positively with airport staff, casting doubt on his initial claims.
