Fox News' Tucker Carlson abruptly announces a vacation — right after explaining why his top writer resigned in disgrace

Fox News host Tucker Carlson announced Monday night that he's going on a vacation — "trout fishing" — for the rest of the week, shortly after addressing the latest inflammatory controversy that has dogged his show.

His top writer, Blake Neff, resigned last week after CNN uncovered that he has been posting online in a forum filled with bigotry. The report found he had engaged with rank racism and sexism on the platform. Many argue that Carlson's program itself is deeply racist — and it carries overt white supremacist themes — but the language on the forums was even more explicit and unequivocally bigoted.

Carlson addressed the reasons Neff left only obliquely.

"Blake was horrified by the story, and he was ashamed," Carlson said. "Friday afternoon he resigned from his job."

He continued: "What Blake wrote is wrong. We don't endorse those words; they have no connection to this show." (This point seems arguable, given that the same person who wrote them wrote countless words that Carlson himself read out from a teleprompter for years. Carlson himself has a record of saying explicit and vile racist vitriol as well, but he has not faced consequences for this past.)

Unsurprisingly, Carlson also lashed out at the critics who ferreted out a malicious racist from his own staff.

"We should also point out, to the ghouls now beating their chests in triumph at the destruction of a young man that self-righteousness also has its costs," he said. "We're all human. When we pretend we are holy, we are lying. When we pose as blameless in order to blame other people, we are committing the gravest sin of all."

When announcing his vacation, Carlson claimed the departure was "long-planned." That claim would be hard to disprove, but it's also quite common for Fox News hosts to take time away from their shows after controversies such as these. Occasionally, the hosts — like Bill O'Reilly — never come back, but often they do.