A Dutch historian who became a global sensation after calling out Davos’ billionaires over tax avoidance has leaked footage of an interview he did with Tucker Carlson, in which the Fox News host brands him a “moron” and tells him to “Go f*** yourself”.

Rutger Bregman, author of bestseller Utopia for Realists, said he recorded the interview with Mr Carlson last week and that it was later due to air, but never did.

In it, Mr Bregman critiques Fox News’ conservative agenda, accuses its presenters of being “bought by the billionaire class” and questions why US president Donald Trump has failed to release his tax returns.

Towards the end of the interview, which was obtained by NowThis, Mr Bregman raises billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch’s ownership of Fox News.

“What the Murdochs basically want you to do is to scapegoat immigrants instead of talking about tax avoidance,“ Mr Bregman says. “So I’m glad you’re now finally raising the issue, but that’s what’s been happening for the past couple of years.”

Mr Carlson replies: “I’m taking orders from the Murdochs, is that what you’re saying?”

Mr Bregman then raises Mr Carlson’s former links to the Cato Institute, a right-wing think tank partially owned by billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.

Speaking over an increasingly irate Mr Carlson, Mr Bregman accuses him, without providing evidence, of taking the Cato Institute’s “dirty money”.

“You are a millionaire funded by billionaires,” Mr Bregman says, adding: “You’re not part of the solution Mr Carlson. You’re part of the problem actually.”

Acknowledging the interview is unlikely to air, Mr Bregman says, like his Davos appearance, he is speaking “truth to power”.

After a brief pause, Mr Carlson erupts, telling Mr Bregman: “I wanna go say to you, why don’t you go f*** yourself, you tiny brain. And I hope this gets picked up, because you’re a moron.

Watch Fox News host Tucker Carlson call one of his guests a 'tiny brain...moron' during an interview. NowThis has obtained the full segment with historian Rutger Bregman that Fox News is refusing to air. pic.twitter.com/kERYPUaGLY — NowThis (@nowthisnews) February 20, 2019

“I tried to give you a fair hearing, but you were too f***ing annoying.”

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On Wednesday, Mr Bregman tweeted that the interview was one Tucker Carlson and Fox News "didn’t want you to see”.

“I chose to release it, because I think we should keep talking about the corrupting influence of money in politics. It also shows how angry elites can get if you do that,” he said.

Here’s why we didn’t air that segment last week. https://t.co/cQHlfEQZT1 — Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) February 21, 2019

Mr Carlson, addressing the decision not to air the interview, said on his own show Tucker Carlson Tonight that Mr Bregman’s attack on his integrity was “too much”.

“I did what I try hard never to do on this show – I was rude," he said. "I called him a moron and then I modified that word with a vulgar Anglo-Saxon term that is also intelligible in Dutch.”