Racist conspiracy theory popularized by U.S. rightwing media behind Buffalo shooting: The Guardian

LONDON, May 19 (Xinhua) -- Great replacement theory, or white replacement theory, the racist notion that white Americans are being deliberately replaced through immigration, motivated the killer of the weekend mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, The Guardian has said.

Rightwing media, especially Fox News, has popularized the concept of replacement theory, it said in a report on Tuesday.

It noted that the show of Fox News star Tucker Carlson, who has arguably done more than anyone in the United States to popularize the racist conspiracy, routinely drew more than 3 million viewers a night. It added that Carlson and his colleagues' promotion of the theory has been unchecked by Fox News's top executives.

Great replacement theory states that a range of liberals, Democrats and Jewish people are working to replace white voters in western countries with non-white people, in an effort to achieve political aims, it said.

Given the size of Fox News's audience, its push for the theory has had a huge impact on the general public and even politicians, it said.

"It should perhaps be little surprise, then, that Trump-supporting Republican politicians like Elise Stefanik and JD Vance have also embraced replacement theory," the report said.

"Make no mistake: this is dangerous stuff. The 'great replacement theory' is a classic white supremacist trope that undergirds the modern white supremacist movement in America," it said, quoting Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League.

"It is a concept that is discussed almost daily in online racist fever swamps. It is a notion that fueled the hateful chants of 'Jews will not replace us!' in Charlottesville in 2017. And it has lit the fuse in explosive hate crimes, most notably the hate-motivated mass shooting attacks in Pittsburgh, Poway and El Paso, as well as in Christchurch, New Zealand," Greenblatt said.