If he said that, he's lying.
The airlines don't have a damn thing to do with the hiring of air traffic controllers. They are hired by and work for the Federal Aviation Administration.
Obviously, he knows that airlines don’t hire ATC. He is talking about wokeness and hiring. There was an issue a few years ago where the government was going to put equity ahead of experience by hiring women and minorities ahead of ex-military controllers.
Listen to the ATC recording of the incident at AUS where ATC put a SW jet on the runway in front of a FedEx doing a CATIII landing.
The controller (who has a sketchy record) is obviously a diversity hire who lacks basic situational awareness.
In clear weather, you can squeeze in a departure like that. At minimums, you don’t want the departing AC in the way of the ILS system antennas, much less in front of the AC landing in the blind.
I watched the segment. Tucker was talking about Pilots.