Last week, Ariel Pink and John Maus were both in Washington, DC to attend Donald Trump’s rally — the one where Trump spurred his supporters to go storm the Capitol. When the public found out about Pink’s presence in Washington, Pink insisted that he hadn’t been part of the riot. He also said a whole lot about his support of Trump, claiming that the election was “stolen” and that “the reason the left/mainstream media has made it virtually a crime for people to support him is due to his unprecedented success as US president.” Shortly afterward, Mexican Summer, Pink’s label, dropped him.

Yesterday, news came out that Pink’s ex-girlfriend had accused him of physical and sexual abuse as part of a court case in Los Angeles. Pink had sought a restraining order against her, apparently in an effort to keep her from making her claims against him public. A judge ruled against Pink in that case on the same day that Pink was in Washington for the rally.

Last night, Pink sat down with Tucker Carlson on Carlson’s nightly Fox News show. Carlson attempted to prop Pink up as someone who had been victimized by “cancel culture,” and Pink was happy to play the victim. Carlson set Pink up by saying that Pink is an artist and that artists do transgressive things: “You did the most transgressive thing. You came out as a public Trump supporter.”

Pink, stammering and visibly close to tears, said that the media had attempted to depict him as one of the rioters at the Capitol: “I was there for a peaceful rally. That’s all it was to me. But there as no fact-checking or anything like that. 130 articles went out in the course of 24 hours.” (I did not see a single media outlet claim that Pink was one of the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol.)

Pink also told the story of Mexican Summer dropping him. He claimed that the label first assured him that they would support him but that they changed their minds: “They succumbed to cancel culture.” He told a big sob story about where this leaves him: “It pretty much leaves me destitute and on the street. I don’t know. I’m sort of overwhelmed right now, and I don’t know exactly what to do… I can’t even afford my lawyer right now.” He complained of Biden supporters being “sore winners,” and Carlson seized on the phrase.

Pink made no mention of why he might need that lawyer, and neither did Carlson. Carlson stayed away from the sexual and physical abuse allegations against Pink. Pink said something vague about how he’d been “me-too’ed,” but he didn’t go into any detail. He did, however, say, “I know I didn’t do anything wrong, so there’s no reason I should feel remorseful about this.” (By “this,” he presumably meant his Trump support.)

Pink’s performance on Tucker Carlson’s show might be the single most pathetic and swaggerless thing I have ever beheld. Pink, for instance, attempted to say that he knew Trump had “lost fairly,” but he couldn’t resist comparing himself to Trump: “People seem to want to kick me down, as well, much like they have Trump — kick us down when we’re down.”

Pink also said, “There’s new articles being written. Just, just… people are so mean.” Also, Carlson signed off by saying, “When reasonable people like you are destroyed, all of us should take notice.” It felt like a matrix glitch-out moment: Ariel Pink complaining about people being mean to Tucker Carlson, Tucker Carlson calling Ariel Pink “reasonable.” If you would like to behold this absolute worm shit for yourself, it is below.