WASHINGTON: Tucker Carlson, star Fox News anchor and bow-tied darling of the American right, has become a laughingstock among Twitter users for his new series on masculinity, which according to him is under growing threat.
In the trailer for "The End of Men," Carlson worries about "the total collapse of testosterone levels in American men," which he says is "a huge story that no one covers."
The short clip, set to the grandiose theme music from "2001: A Space Odyssey," shows muscular young white men wrestling shirtless, milking a cow, preparing a barbecue, doing push-ups and drinking what appears to be raw eggs.
Others chop wood or carry tractor tires, always bare-chested.
In the midst of these images appears a naked man, arms outstretched, standing high on a rock at sunset in front of a small machine that is emitting an orange light on his crotch.
The voiceover, meanwhile, talks about "men who are tough, men who are resourceful, men who are strong enough to survive."
The excerpt has triggered an avalanche of mockery on social networks, with many users commenting on what they call the "homoeroticism" of the footage, in stark contrast to the professed traditional family values widely propounded on Fox News.
"You could literally just change the voiceover and make this an ad for Grindr," the gay hook-up site, commented one Democratic activist.
In another teaser clip, Carlson talks to a sports coach from Ohio who is the promoter of "red light therapy," a practice that, he says, includes "testicle tanning."
Without explicitly defending this practice, which has not been endorsed by medical professionals, Carlson insists on the need to "seek a solution" to the drop in testosterone levels.