A conservative commentator, Tucker Carlson, is back in the media spotlight after pressing British television host Piers Morgan during an interview on the “Tucker Carlson Show” to repeat an anti-gay slur.

Mr. Carlson initiated the exchange to make a point about free speech in the United Kingdom, citing the case of Elizabeth Kinney, a 34-year-old assault victim convicted of a hate crime after calling her attacker a “fa—t” in private text messages. Ms. Kinney was fined and sentenced to serve a 12-month community order.

Arguing that “you’re allowed to be homophobic if you want in a free country,” Mr. Carlson challenged Mr. Morgan: “Would you say the word ‘fa—t’ on camera?” Mr. Morgan declined, stating he didn’t need to use a “derogatory” word to “make the point that women’s rights should be protected.”

“I’m allowed to, I just choose not to,” Mr. Morgan stated. 

The former Fox News host doubled down, repeating the slur several times and declaring, “I can use any freaking word I want,” while insisting he was not “anti-gay.”

During the same conversation, Mr. Carlson suggested Britain didn’t need to enter World War II after Germany invaded Poland because Britain wasn’t directly attacked. “I’m not defending Hitler but it’s just a fact that you weren’t attacked,” Mr. Carlson said. “So when you say that Churchill saved Britain, well Britain got into the war voluntarily.”

Mr. Morgan pushed back, noting that “our neighboring European countries were being attacked and it was quite clear that Adolf Hitler and the Nazis wanted to take over Europe.”

The exchange drew a sharp rebuke from Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, an emerging Carlson critic. “On this Thanksgiving, it’s really normal that Tucker is spending the day arguing that America was really, really mean to poor, misunderstood Adolph,” he wrote on X. “Pass the stuffing!”

Mr. Carlson was already facing criticism over an interview last month with white nationalist Nick Fuentes, a 27-year-old Holocaust denier known for antisemitic, misogynistic, and racist commentary. The interview triggered widespread condemnation from conservatives including editor-in-chief of the Daily Wire, Ben Shapiro, who called Mr. Carlson “an intellectual coward.”