Tucker Carlson was dismissed from Fox News yesterday in a move that came as a shock not just to his legions of fans, but also to the popular anchor himself.
According to reports, the 50-year-old had no idea he was going to be dismissed, and wasn’t told exactly why he was losing his job when he was called by CEO Suzanne Scott on Monday morning.
Needless to say, the rumor mill has kicked into overdrive as to the reasoning behind the decision, said to have been made on Friday night by Lachlan Murdoch. On the aforementioned phone call, Carlson was told by Scott only that the decision had been made “from above.”
Now, though, the Daily Mail and others have weighed in on the matter, suggesting that Carlson’s acrimonious exit might not merely be a result of the Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit, in which Fox News agreed to pay a $787.5 million settlement just days ago.
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Fox News released a brief statement yesterday after informing Carlson that he had been ousted:
“FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”
According to the announcement, there will be no send-off for Carlson and his departure is effective immediately: his last program aired on Friday. His 8 PM ET time slot will be filled by Fox News Tonight in the interim.
The conservative political commentator has been one of Fox News’ most popular but controversial personalities over the years: his primetime show Tucker Carlson Tonight was one of the highest-rated cable news programs.
His firing comes mere days after Fox News agreed to pay a $787.5 million settlement in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit. The lawsuit alleged that Fox News personalities, including Carlson, made false claims that the company’s voting machines were rigged against former president Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
Yet while it was initially strongly rumored that Carlson’s dismissal was directly linked to the settlement, the Daily Mail, citing The Wall Street Journal, now say that his criticisms of Fox News executives played a big part.
The Wall Street Journal reportedly say that the offending comments in question were made public as part of the lawsuit filed against Fox by Dominion Voting Systems. As per the Daily Mail, many of the messages were redacted at the request of Fox attorneys, but not before they were seen by Fox bigwigs.
Among the comments made public include Carlson telling a colleague after the 2020 election was called for Joe Biden: “Do the executives understand how much credibility and trust we’ve lost with our audience?”
He’s also said to have written: “A combination of incompetent liberals and top leadership with too much pride to back down is what’s happening.”
Then, on November 9, 2020, Carlson told Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott that he was alarmed by the falling ratings of the network two days after it had called the election for Biden.
Carlson said: “I’ve never seen a reaction like this, to any media company. Kills me to watch it.”
Three days later, on November 12, he was a member of a group chat that included fellow anchors Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham which further blasted Fox’s decision to call the election.
Sean Hannity initially wrote in the group: “In one week and one debate they destroyed a brand that took 25 years to build and the damage is incalculable.”
Carlson then replied: “It’s vandalism.”
Later that same night, Carlson highlighted a tweet by Fox reporter Jacqui Heinrich wherein she fact-checked another tweet by former POTUS Donald Trump that appeared to endorse conspiracy theories to do with Dominion Voting Systems.
“There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,” she wrote.
Carlson wrote to Hannity and Ingraham: “Please get her fired. Seriously … What the f***? I’m actually shocked. It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.”
At the time of writing, Carlson has not issued a statement regarding his dismissal.
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