Tucker Carlson has hit out at British Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey after the soft drink chief publicly spoke out against Georgia's new voting law following mounting pressure from activists.
'Let me be crystal clear and unequivocal: This legislation is unacceptable,' Quincey, 56, said in an interview with CNBC this week.
'It is a step backwards and it does not promote principles we have stood for in Georgia around broad access to voting, around voter convenience, about ensuring election integrity. And this is -- this is frankly just a step backwards.'
Quincey, who is from London, joins a growing list of corporations, including Delta and the MLB, that have condemned the state's controversial new bill, which critics say will unfairly restrict voting rights and curtail the influence of Black voters.
His comments were slammed Friday by Tucker Carlson and social media users alike who criticized the British-born businessman for taking a stance in American politics.
British Coca Cola CEO James Quincey has been slammed for weighing in on the controversy surrounding Georgia's new voter laws
Tucker Carlson blasted the businessman for trying to 'control our democracy' after Quincey publicly spoke out against Georgia's new voting laws
'It's not clear how long the CEO of Coca-Cola has been in this country, but just to restate: Just because you run a soft drink company doesn't mean you get to control our democracy,' Carlson wrote in an opinion piece on Fox.
'So Coca-Cola is very, very concerned about Black people, which makes you wonder, since we're on the subject, how many Black people have died in the last hundred years from diabetes caused by Coca-Cola products?' he continued.
'We don't have those numbers. Someone ought to find out. We bet money it's far more than the Minneapolis Police Department has killed, ever.'
Quincey joined the Coca-Cola Company in 1996 and appeared to have been mainly involved in its European operations until becoming COO in August 2015.
Prior to joining the company, he worked for US management consulting firm Bain & Company. Although he was born in the UK, he lived in New Hampshire, where his father was a professor at Dartmouth, for three years before moving back to Birmingham, England at the age of five.
Social media users zeroed in on Quincey's British nationality after he publicly spoke out against Georgia's new laws
On social media, critics were quick to point out Quincey's nationality and blasted the CEO for weighing in on American policy.
'@CocaCola James Quincey I think you should keep your mouth shut. You should go back to the UK. We stopped listening to people like you and your country back in 1776,' one user tweeted.
'The CEO of Coca-Cola, James Quincey, isn't even an American citizen, yet he is trying to tell the State of Georgia what kind of of laws it can & can't have, all while doing business in China,' said another. 'Deport James Quincey.'
One Twitter user added: '[James Quincey] knows NOTHING about American values, he's British! We left his tyrannical king 245 yrs ago. Now he wants to bring his tyranny here, + tell us how to run things.'
The Coca Cola Company's headquarters are based in Atlanta, Georgia, however it is unclear how long Quincey has been in the US or if he has become a naturalized citizen since being appointed CEO in 2016.
Former President Donald Trump Friday called on supporters to 'boycott baseball' as Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Tucker Carlson blasted cancel culture after the MLB pulled its All-Star Game from the state over its new voting law.
Some critics accused Quincey of being a 'globalist telling Americans to capitulate to the globalist agenda'
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred Jr. had announced on Friday that the league would be relocating the 2021 All-Star Game after Kemp signed a controversial voting bill into law last week.
'Baseball is already losing tremendous numbers of fans, and now they leave Atlanta with their All-Star Game because they are afraid of the Radical Left Democrats who do not want voter I.D., which is desperately needed, to have anything to do with our elections,' Trump said in a statement.
'Boycott baseball and all of the woke companies that are interfering with Free and Fair Elections. Are you listening Coke, Delta, and all!'
Earlier on Friday, Georgia Gov. Kemp appeared on Fox News to blast 'cancel culture' in an interview with Tucker Carlson after MLB decided to pull its All-Star game from the state over the new law.
'This is unbelievable, I mean really unfortunate today that Major League Baseball has folded up and caved to the cancel culture and to a bunch of liberal lies, quite honestly,' Kemp said.
Former President Donald Trump called on supporters to 'boycott baseball' in a statement on Friday
Trump's statement calling to boycott baseball was posted to Twitter by the RSBN Network
'What is even more sad is that the President of the United States Joe Biden, and people like Stacey Abrams, labeling the election integrity act Jim Crow. This is what happens.'
He continued: 'Now you have a lot of small business owners, a lot of great baseball fans, including myself, getting deprived of having the All-Star Game in Atlanta because of the cancel culture.'
'I think it's a message to all of us, all across this country that are home tonight, they are coming after you next. You know, they're going to come after your ballgame. They are going to boycott your business.'
Delta Airlines and Coca-Cola earlier this week also voiced their 'crystal clear' opposition to the new law.
'It's so hypocritical, too. It's like, Major League Baseball is headquartered in New York. Delta is flying in New York. I'm sure Coca-Cola sell a lot of product in New York,' Kemp said, as he blasted New York voting laws which he claims are more restrictive.
Kemp appeared on Fox News on Friday to blast 'cancel culture' in an interview with Tucker Carlson after MLB decided to pull out of his state
The Atlanta Braves, the All-Star Game's host team, criticized MLB's decision in a statement, saying the club is 'deeply disappointed'
Delta Airlines and Coca-Cola earlier this week also voiced their 'crystal clear' opposition to the new law.
'It's so hypocritical, too. It's like, Major League Baseball is headquartered in New York. Delta is flying in New York. I'm sure Coca-Cola sell a lot of product in New York,' Kemp said, as he blasted New York voting laws which he claims are more restrictive.
'When you look at New York's voting laws, you have to have an excuse to vote absentee by mail in New York. You do not in Georgia. If you want to vote absentee here, you can do it.'
Kemp claimed that Georgia has 17 days of in-person early voting before the election while New York has 10.
'I guess we should be boycotting, you know, them for having their headquarters in New York because that law is more stricter than ours,' Kemp said. 'I mean, this is all ridiculous.'
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