Tucker Carlson: Smoking in children's cartoons is a 'symbol of freedom and masculinity'

The hosts of Fox & Friends on Sunday expressed outraged that male comic book characters were being "wussified," and that an effort was being made not to "sexualize" female characters.

Last week, leaked photos from the studios of animator Genndy Tartakovsky showed what the updated CGI-animated Popeye would look like.

"Without the iconic anchor tattoo and the smoking pipe!" Fox News host Clayton Morris announced on Sunday. "Are they wussifying Popeye?"

"Of course, they're wussifying," co-host Tucker Carlson agreed. "Nothing is scarier to a modern liberal than tobacco. If Popeye were driving around giving the morning after [birth control] pill to fourth graders, that would be totally fine."

"But smoking a pipe, a symbol of freedom and masculinity in America itself, the reason this country exists, tobacco, that's like, 'Oh, that's outrageous. That's a major sin.'"

Co-host Anna Kooiman pointed out that Popeye's original purpose was to teach children to eat healthy foods like spinach, "and if you smoke, you might get lung cancer."

"No child has ever smoked a pipe because of Popeye," Carlson grumbled, adding that he also found it "bewildering" that the comic book character Thor had been depicted as a woman.

"That's the new bustier Thor because Thor is now a chick," he complained.

Morris was angry that Wonder Woman was wearing a "pantsuit" instead of "short-shorts."

"Some people would say that this is an important thing that we're not sexualizing these women so much," Kooiman noted. "It's the same for men. I mean, we make sure they have perfect figures, actually larger-than-life better."

"That's a good Islamic point," Carlson snarked. "We should cover them. We should cover the women because, otherwise, it just incites the men. It's immodest as we say in the Sharia."

"I want to see Wonder Woman in the original short-shorts, and the halter top," Morris whined.

"I think she looks great," Kooiman observed. "I actually like that outfit better."

"If you've got the body, flaunt it," Morris replied. "That's what I always say."

Watch the video below from Fox News' Fox & Friends, broadcast Sept. 21, 2014.