On Saturday, Tucker Carlson attended the burial of Sonny Barger, the commander of the Hells Angels, and he gave a moving eulogy in his memory.
More than 7,000 people came at the Stockton 99 Speedway to pay their respects to Ralph “Sonny” Barger, who passed away in June at the age of 83 after a short fight with throat cancer. Carlson, 53, was among those there.
Thousands of people showed out on two wheels for Barger’s six-hour service, despite the fact that for years he had been the leader of a gang that the US government still classifies as an organized criminal syndicate, inspiring terror in the hearts of miscreants and housewives alike.
The San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office had warned that the celebration on Friday may become violent, but the massive, leather-clad mourners who showed up maintained their composure, wept, and shared memories of the gang’s longstanding leader.
Carlson, who had previously voiced his appreciation for Barger’s no-nonsense, patriotic principles, was among others to pay a moving homage to the Modesto native who went to the Bay Area as a kid before the region was invaded by a terrible surge of crime.
Arriving in a button-down shirt amidst a sea of bare chests and leather vests, Carlson took the stage and paid a moving tribute to Barger. The Fox News host shared a story about the late gang leader and a letter he wrote to his widow that, in his opinion, perfectly captures the values of both Barger and the typical American.
“Sonny Barger passed away in his native California. Carlson addressed the large assemblage, saying, “He was 83 years old.
My college roommate, who was a devotee of Harley-Davidsons as well, forwarded me his letter to his wife and friends after he passed away.
We’d always been fans of Sonny Barger, but I didn’t know what his personal opinions were outside of promoting the club, said the infamously outspoken host of Tucker Carlson Tonight.
And the letter, if I can sum it up from memory, says: “Always stand strong, stay loyal… be free, and always cherish honor,” Carlson remarked, attempting to remember the words of the message.
Carlson halted at one point, holding his chest in a fit of passion as he recalled the alleged credo of the motorcycle club commander. He said to the gathering, “Ah, reading that made me emotional.”
The Fox News presenter persisted, telling the audience to repeat the chant after him and claiming that it was his own motto that he continued to live by.
Carlson said, “Stand strong, stay loyal, stay free, and always respect honor,” before taking another emotional stop and pondering to himself. “And I wondered if there is a term that more properly captures who I want to be, what I strive to be, and the sort of guy I admire.”
The presenter exclaimed, “I can’t think of a term that sums it up more completely than that,” and afterwards posed with several of the present Hells Angels.
The talking head then attacked critics of Barger’s tough-guy persona, attacking the left and what seemed to be the Biden Administration for displacing the beliefs of Barger and other like-minded Americans.
Carlson replied, shaking his head in distaste, “And I thought that, that’s the outlaw biker that every parent in my neighborhood was terrified shitless of as a youngster.”
That’s Sonny Barger’s point of view, right? Carlson proceeded by pleading with the audience.
Then, becoming more and more passionate, he questioned, “Why aren’t we hearing that from the people running the country?” Why does Sonny Barger have to tell people to “stand tall, stay loyal, remain free, and always cherish honor”?
Sunny Barger is the only one saying it, according to Carlson, even though the president of the United States ought to be saying it every morning when he salutes the flag.
“I want to do honor to the guy who said those words,” I said to myself.
The procession was conducted on Saturday from 2 pm to 8 pm at the 99 Speedway on North Wilson Way. Carlson went on to provide a poignant signoff in which he boasted about leaving his full-time broadcasting duties to attend.
When I received an invitation to this funeral, I freed up my calendar and decided to go regardless of how challenging it would be to travel from Maine to Stockton. I’m also present. And I’m pleased to be here,” Carlson said to the audience before concluding with one of his trademark signs.
‘Thank you for having me, and I hope you’ll keep representing those perspectives,’ she said. Amen.’
The unexpectedly heartfelt remembrance from Carlson reflected the sentiments expressed in the many other eulogies for the late Barger, who is credited with founding the first Oakland Hells Angels chapter in 1957.
On the day of the late leader’s passing, Carlson even devoted a segment of his show to him; in this homage, he also mentioned the mantra that Barger had written to his 63-year-old wife, Zorana, and which was included in the message.
Thousands of bikers and members of the group, which gained notoriety in the 1960s under Barger and other members of the now 3,500-strong group, have participated in the ride. It is unclear from the group’s history whether it was a brotherhood of like-minded individuals or a violent criminal organization with bases across the country.
And although many people considered the march on Saturday to be something special, the sheriff of San Joaquin County had a different opinion.
Sheriff Pat Withrow said, “I made it obvious that we did everything to prevent this from occurring.”
But the funeral went through without a hitch and provided a dignified send-off for such a well-known figure.
When Barger was a young boy, his family relocated to Oakland, California, and he was expelled for hitting a teacher. At age 16, after falsifying his birth certificate, he enrolled in the American Army.
When his deceit was exposed in 1956, he was dismissed with an honorable discharge and drew into the oil-stained world of the so-called “one-percenters”—a phrase the American Motorcycle Association devised to characterize the minuscule fraction of motorcyclists they considered troublemakers.
Barger said in 2008, “I wanted to live my life the way I wanted to live it,” emphasizing his tenet of devotion and hardy independence, “don’t be a rat, and sometimes you physically have to battle to be free.”
In one of his memoirs, Barger claims that the Oakland Hells Angels was the organization’s most important charter. The Hells Angels were a minor club in San Francisco that had failed until he and other motorcyclists chose to use the moniker.
He quickly rose to the position of leader of the Hells Angels Oakland charter after exchanging his first motorcycle, an Indian, for a Harley Davidson, also known as “hogs” for the company’s former pig mascot. He then oversaw the formation of independent charters, or branches, across the United States and later abroad.
The most well-known member of the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club, which was established in San Bernardino, California, on March 17, 1948, was Barger, who later served as the organization’s national president. He contributed to its development into the current global organization.
His status as the two-fisted grandpa of the oldest, biggest, and most renowned motorcycle club in the world has gained him admirers and foes alike outside the biker community.
When Barger, among other exploits, offered the club’s members to President Lyndon B. Johnson as a “crack force of trained guerrillas” to drop behind enemy lines in the Vietnam War, the Hells Angels’ hell-raising actions stunned “straight” America in the 1960s. His offer was flatly rejected.
In a different infamous event, he used force to compel the Rolling Stones to perform in 1969 at Altamont Speedway, close to San Francisco, when the band threatened to cancel a show after an 18-year-old man was fatally stabbed by a club member.
An FBI agent said in a documentary that the conflict continued for years, and that the Hells Angels subsequently intended to assassinate Mick Jagger, the frontman for the Rolling Stones.
Barger said in 2008, “I have no recall of that ever occurring, and why it turned up 35 years later, I don’t know.”
Barger had several run-ins with the police and served time in jail mostly for drug and firearm offenses, but he also escaped harsher punishments by successfully defending himself against a number of more severe allegations.
In 1972, when a Texas drug dealer was slain in Oakland and a house was set on fire, Barger and three other people were cleared of murder charges.
In 1973, Barger was found guilty of drug and weapon possession by a convicted criminal and received a sentence of 10 years to life in prison. In November 1977, after completing his four and a half-year term, he was granted release.
Barger was one of 33 persons charged with breaking the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act in 1979.
However, a divided jury found him not guilty of racketeering charges, while nine other defendants were.
Barger says in his book Hells Angel that he was given a 30-year sentence but only spent five because of his addictions to “bikes, drink, ladies, and good times.”
He pursued the member of the opposing gang who had taken Barger’s Harley Davidson, then beat him unconscious and broke each of his fingers with a hammer.
Following FBI searches in 1987, Barger was detained on suspicion of possessing illegal drugs, guns, and explosives.
Barger was sentenced to four years in prison after being found guilty of conspiring to carry and receive explosives in interstate commerce with the purpose to murder people and destroy property.
According to Schwartz, Barger and three other defendants were found guilty of a crime relating to a stolen government handbook, while five other defendants received complete acquittals.
The prosecution claimed that Barger and the other defendants organized the assaults as retaliation for the shooting death of John Cleve Webb, an Alaskan Hells Angel who was killed in August 1986 outside a pub in Jefferson County. Later, a Louisville Outlaw admitted guilt to reckless murder in connection with Webb’s death.
After completing the whole of his three-and-a-half-year term, Barger was allowed to leave jail in November 1992.
Early in the 1980s, Barger had a throat cancer diagnosis that necessitated the removal of his vocal chords.
After the health concern, Barger openly spoke against smoking, modifying his message to reflect the classic anti-establishment stance of the Hells Angels: “Want to be a rebel? Don’t smoke like everyone else.
Barger was referred to as the Hells Angels group’s “maximum leader” in Hunter S Thompson’s seminal book of the same name.
Despite the group’s numerous scandals, including when Meredith Hunter was murdered by its members during a Rolling Stones concert at the Altamont Free Concert in 1969, he has vehemently defended it.
The Stones wanted to quit performing, according to Barger, but he persuaded Keith Richards to go on.
‘I stepped next to him and shoved my gun into his side and ordered him to start playing his guitar or he was dead,’ he recounted.
Despite receiving a cancer diagnosis in 1983, Barger continued to smoke three packs of Camel cigarettes every day, leading to the ultimate removal of his vocal chords.