The seemingly synonymous Tucker Carlson and Fox News Media are no longer a partnership.
On April 24, Fox News Media issued a statement announcing that longtime news anchor Carlson will no longer be at the network.
“FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” the press statement reads. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”
Carlson’s final program aired on Friday, April 21. Fox News Tonight will continue to air live at 8 p.m. PT/ET as an interim show helmed by rotating Fox News personalities until a new host is named, per the press release.
The announcement comes amid Dominion Voting Systems suing Fox News over a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit in regards to the cable news channel’s coverage of the 2020 election, and then receiving a settlement from Rupert Murdoch’s cable news network well north of $700 million just a day before the trial was set to start. Carlson was named in the lawsuit amid his texts and emails questioning President Trump’s belief that the election was stolen. The lawsuit was filed in March 2021 and alleged that Fox News’ post-election coverage promoted conspiracy theories defaming Dominion and implying the company manipulated vote counts through the voting machines provided for the election.
During discovery for the suit, damning communications from Carlson were revealed that showed he doubted the veracity of “stolen election” claims he himself then repeated on-air, showing willful intent to spread misinformation and libel Dominion. That discovery also revealed Carlson apparently hates former President Trump despite appearing on-air and in-person with him as apparently one of his closest allies.
Per an IndieWire report, a source familiar with the matter said that Fox News’ parent company NewsCorp’s co-chairman Lachlan Murdoch considers Carlson “a close friend and the most important person at the network. However, the source also said that Murdoch and his family — led by patriarch Rupert Murdoch — might not be afraid to fire anyone who hurts the business.”
“Tucker Carlson Tonight” was the most-watched show in all of cable news in March 2023, averaging 3.3 million total viewers per evening. Overall, Carlson’s show was the No. 1 cable news program in the key demo (443,000 viewers aged 25-54) for the first quarter of 2023.
Carlson is expected to continue his on-air career, with experts speculating a shift to either The First or Newsmax. Carlson potentially could also start his own platform similar to fellow ousted Fox News alum Glenn Beck, who founded The Blaze in 2011.
Additional reporting by Christian Blauvelt and Tony Maglio.
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