Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson made his first public appearance in Oxford Thursday night just short of two weeks after being ousted from his primetime television post and one day after reports of text messages that have been widely interpreted as being racist in tone.

Carlson was in town as the guest speaker for the annual fundraising event for Rainbow Omega, a faith-based nonprofit organization providing vocational and residential programs to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The organization had booked Carlson in the fall of last year before the latest controversies began to swirl around the television host and ticket sales had been slow until his firing last week — which led to a sold-out venue at the 1,200-seat Oxford Performing Arts Center.