Fox News' Tucker Carlson digs in after being busted for racist and bigoted comments

Fox News host Tucker Carlson defended his comments on child rape and child brides during his Monday show by saying it was Democrats playing the role of thought police.

Indeed, Carlson's thought on child rape are not illegal, but the act is.

“I am not defending underage marriage at all, I just don’t think it’s the same thing exactly as pulling a child from a bus stop and sexually assaulting that child," Carlson said in an old radio interview unearthed by Media Matters.

Sunday he refused to apologize for his past words, dismissing it sarcastically as "something naughty."

During his opening monologue Monday, Carlson railed against the "liberal mom" and said that it's a waste of time to explain how “words were spoken in jest” because “you are a sinner begging the forgiveness of Twitter.”

It's unclear what the "joke" was in Carlson's conversion about convicted child molester Warren Jeffs.

Carlson went on to attack the media for the “press release written by Democratic Party operatives." Media Matters is not affiliated with the Democratic Party.

“One of the only places left in the United States where independent thoughts are allowed is right here, the opinion hours on this network, just a few hours in a sea of television programming," Carlson continued. "It’s not much, relatively speaking. For the left, it’s unacceptable. They demand total conformity. Since the day we went on the air, they’ve been working hard to kill this show.”

He said that Fox News stands behind him despite his comments.

"We’ve always apologized when we’re wrong and will continue to do that…but we will never bow to the mob, ever, no matter what,” Carlson closed.

Watch the opener below: