Mehdi Hasan admitted he finds himself in a “difficult position” with Tucker Carlson today as he still disapproves of the conservative pundit, but feels he’s “saying what needs to be said.”

Zeteo founder and former MS NOW host Hasan joined Hasan Minhaj this week, when at one point he said that he’s been pushed to do a collaboration with Carlson. According to Hasan, he’s heard from a growing number of Muslim and Arab Americans, including in his own family, who have embraced Carlson and his anti-war stances.

Hasan said:

These days Tucker Carlson has a big fan base amongst the anti-war left who see him as saying the right stuff, trying to stop Trump from illegal wars in Iran, and amongst a lot of Muslims and Arab Americans who see him now as this great champion of Palestine. Wherever I go, literally, wherever I go in this country, I do a lot of live events, I do a lot of public events, people come up to me, ‘When are you going on Tucker Carlson? When are you going to do an event with Tucker Carlson? Why don’t you do a collab with Tucker Carlson? We love Tucker Carlson.’ Wherever I go, people ask me more about Tucker Carlson, even in my own family, than they ask me about my wife and kids.

Hasan noted he’s long been a vocal critic of Carlson and the “insider” in him sees Carlson chasing clicks, but the “outsider” recognizes that he’s saying things the “mainstream media” won’t say.

While once a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, Carlson has grown highly critical, knocking the president and his administration over their efforts in the Iran war and their support for Israel in strikes against Gaza.

“Do I like Tucker Carlston? Not personally. Does he like me? I’ve heard he doesn’t like me, but he’s saying what needs to be said. He’s saying things that other people aren’t saying, and he’s taking on people on his own side,” Hasan said.

Hasan added that he’s ultimately accepted that he finds Carlson battling fellow Republicans like Israel Ambassador Mike Huckabee to be plenty entertaining, and maybe necessary.

“Wherever I go, people ask me about Tucker and I say, look, my view is I’m the Jon Stewart popcorn meme. Like I’m that guy. I’m just loving watching it as an outsider. I don’t take sides,” he said.

While some accuse Hasan of “normalizing” Carlson, Hasan admitted an increasing number of Arab Americans will also defend him.

Hasan later said he’d like to have Carlson on his show to “get to the bottom” of the motivations behind his anti-war stances and other issues he’s received pushback for.

He said:

I would love to have him on my show so I could get to the bottom of some of these questions and ask him some tough questions about where is this all coming from, where does this all go. Again, one of my other criticisms of these guys is they helped bring Trump, like Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlsen, [Candace Owens], they’re all now saying, oh my god… why is Trump in Iran? This is so bad. And then all these Muslims or leftists are like, yeah, they’re speaking up. I want some accountability. They gave us Trump. We wouldn’t have Trump term two were it not for Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, Candace [Owens], and the rest. So I want accountability. I understand the argument. A lot of people come tell me, you should do it. You’ll reach a new audience. But then there’s other people who will be very upset with me because they will legitimately say, are you mainstreaming their other views?

Watch above via Hasan Minhaj Doesn’t Know.

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