There were many people left shocked when Tucker Carlson was officially dismissed from his role as Fox News anchor yesterday (April 24) after 10 years, but none perhaps more so than the man himself.
Much and more has been made of the reasons behind the 53-year-old’s abrupt departure, but one thing that seems beyond all certainty is that Carlson had no idea he was set to be given his marching orders when he ended his final show on Friday of last week.
Fox News released a brief statement yesterday after informing Carlson that his services were no longer required:
“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.”
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According to reports, Carlson, who had worked with Fox since 2009, received a call early yesterday morning from CEO Suzanne Scott. The move to let him go is said to have been made on Friday night by Lachlan Murdoch, though on the aforementioned phone call with Scott, Carlson was told only that the decision had been made “from above.”
His dismissal 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.
Jason Koerner / Stringer
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.”
In any case, Carlson, a conservative political commentator who has been one of Fox News’ most popular but controversial personalities over the years, was not apparently aware of Fox’s plans when he signed off on his Friday show.
To end his show prior to the weekend, Carlson said: “That’s it for us for the week; we’ll be back.”
His final words as a Fox News host were: “We’ll be back on Monday. In the meantime, have the best weekend with the ones that you love, and we’ll see you then.”
When Monday rolled around, however, it was guest host Brian Kilmeade sitting in Carlson’s seat. He told viewers: “As you probably have heard, Fox News and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. I wish Tucker the best. I’m great friends with Tucker and always will be.”
At the time of writing, Carlson has not issued a statement regarding his dismissal, though he removed all mention of Fox from his Twitter bio.
What do you think to Fox News’ decision to part ways with Tucker Carlson? Let us know your thoughts in the comments box.
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