Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson backed out of an interview that had been arranged with Tucker Carlson because the former Fox News star would not fork over a $1 million payment to Johnson, according to reports.
Carlson told The Blaze's Glenn Beck that when he contacted Johnson for an interview, the former U.K. prime minister demanded the huge payday for the privilege after Carlson's interview with Vladimir Putin.
"I put in a request for an interview with Boris Johnson as I have many times because he's constantly denouncing me as a tool of the Kremlin," Carlson said of his request to interview Johnson.
"Finally, one of his advisers gets back to me and says, 'He will talk to you, but it's going to cost you a million dollars.' He wants a million dollars," Carlson exclaimed.
Carlson added that Johnson said he would take the payment in "U.S. dollars, gold, or bitcoin."
Tucker: "Boris Johnson calls me a tool of the Kremlin or something. So I put in a request for an interview with Boris Johnson. Finally one of his advisors gets back to me and says he will talk to you but it's going to cost you a million dollars. He wants a million dollars." pic.twitter.com/Y7qADbx2H4
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) February 20, 2024
Carlson noted that when he interviewed the president of Russia, Putin didn't ask for any payment to do the interview.
"I'm not defending Putin, but Putin didn't ask for a million dollars! So, you're telling me that Boris Johnson is a lot sleazier, a lot lower than Vladimir Putin! Which is true! So this whole thing is a freaking shakedown!" Carlson exclaimed.
Carlson also alleged in his appearance with Beck that Johnson was the key person who put the kibosh on a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
"This is, by the way, the guy who single-handedly -- at the request of the U.S. government -- stopped the peace deal in Ukraine a year and a half ago. And is, I think, for that reason responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people," Carlson insisted.
Carlson concluded his point by saying that the $60 billion in Ukraine funding from the U.S. is a "money laundering operation" and blasted Johnson and others for the "really immoral" act of "making money off of war."
"If you’re making money off a war, you know, you can deal with God on that, because that’s really immoral," he said.
However, according to The Guardian, Johnson's representatives are denying that the former prime minister demanded a million dollars.
According to the outlet, Johnson's people are claiming that Carlson is the one who offered the Johnson a million dollars for the meeting and that if he had been paid such an exorbitant fee, he would have donated Carlson's money to "charities for Ukrainian veterans."
Johnson has repeatedly attacked Carlson and recently said the ex-Fox News man is "a traitor to journalism" for daring to interview Putin.
Johnson added that Carlson betrayed "viewers and listeners around the world” for not taking Putin to task for “the torture, the rapes, the blowing-up of kindergartens" in Ukraine, The Guardian added.
During his interview with Carlson, Putin also accused Johnson of scuttling a peace deal.
Putin said that a "huge document" outlining peace had been written up and approved by the head of the Ukrainian delegation, "but the UK prime minister 'dissuaded' Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy" from accepting the terms, The Independent reported.
Johnson has denied the accusations, The Guardian noted.
