Fox News made the abrupt announcement that prime-time personality Tucker Carlson is departing the network on Monday in a terse four-sentence statement.
“FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” the network announced in a statement made public by a representative. “We thank him for his service to the network both as a host and, prior to that, a contributor.”
According to Fox, Carlson will stop anchoring his programme on Friday, April 21. A person with information informed NPR that Lachlan Murdoch and Suzanne Scott, the respective CEOs of Fox News and its parent firm Fox Corp., had decided on Carlson’s destiny on Friday.
Even nevertheless, the network continued to promote an interview between Carlson and presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy that was scheduled to broadcast later that night even after Fox issued its apology on Monday morning.
In his final words on Friday’s broadcast, Carlson wished his audience the “best weekend” and informed them that he would return on Monday. He did not answer NPR’s request for comment.
Fox News fires Tucker Carlson
The firing of Fox’s top opinion anchor comes less than a week after Fox paid more than $787 million to resolve a massive defamation lawsuit brought by an election technology business. Dominion Voting Systems filed a lawsuit in response to videos propagating false allegations that election fraud cost then-President Donald Trump the 2020 election.
Carlson was named in the complaint filed by Dominion Voting Systems. But he is also the subject of a lawsuit brought by Abby Grossberg, his former senior booking producer, who filed two different lawsuits.
Celebrating Carlson’s departure is a producer who is suing him for sex discrimination.
Grossberg claimed that his show’s workplace was filled with instances of misogyny in a complaint filed in the Southern District of New York against Carlson and Fox, accusing them of sexism and harassment. Her lawsuit asserts, among other things, that mocked-up images showed Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker of the US House of Representatives, “in a bathing suit revealing her cleavage” and that staffers were asked, twice, which of two female candidates for governor of Michigan they would prefer to have sex with.
One of Grossberg’s attorneys, Tanvir Rahman, released a statement on Monday afternoon that said in part, “Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox News is, in part, an admission of the systemic lying, bullying, and conspiracy-mongering claimed by our client.” We anticipate conducting Mr. Carlson and his subordinates’ sworn depositions fairly soon since they continue to be individual defendants in the S.D.N.Y. lawsuit.
Justin Wells, the senior executive producer of Carlson’s show, who is also listed as a defendant in that action, was also fired by Fox.
The subject of Grossberg’s other case, brought in Delaware, is Fox’s legal team’s conduct. She claims that under duress, she lied about what she saw at the network in her sworn testimony for the slander action.
Fox has refuted the allegations made against its solicitors. After she filed her lawsuits, it dismissed Grossberg on the grounds that she had leaked confidential material during the defamation lawsuit that she was not authorised to make public.
In a statement on Carlson’s dismissal, Grossberg stated, “This is a step towards accountability for the election lies and baseless conspiracy theories spread by Fox News, something I witnessed firsthand.” This is some retribution for the American people and Fox News viewers who have been misled and deceived for years in an effort to increase the channel’s popularity and income.
Also Read : At Fox News, Tucker Carlson has left
There is a definite difference between what Carlson stated on television and behind the scenes, according to documents made public prior to the settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. On his broadcast, he expressed scepticism on the claims made by Sidney Powell, a significant Trump backer, which lacked supporting documentation. But in January 2021, he invited My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell, a prominent marketer, who repeated the untruths once more. Powell was described by Carlson as an extraordinarily nasty and demeaning name for a lady in his private correspondence to a coworker.
Until the network selects a permanent successor, a rotating cast of celebrities will step in during the prime-time period, according to Fox.
A celebrity who has weathered several crises
Carlson, who seamlessly replaced previous star presenter Bill O’Reilly after a slew of sexual harassment charges forced his retirement, was by far the network’s most well-known figure. (O’Reilly disputes these charges.)
At Fox Nation, the streaming website that appeals to an even more strong right-wing worldview, Carlson has also made a significant impact.
Carlson has faced more scandals despite his stunning exit than most cable news personalities could ever hope to deal with on a daily basis. His top writer was fired in July 2020 when it was revealed that he had submitted comments that were homophobic, sexist, and racist. The Daily Dot discovered last month that one of Carlson’s employees had a pattern of “liking” content from the white supremacist website VDare.
Civil rights activists have denounced his programme for airing racist, antisemitic, and anti-immigrant ideologies.
By attempting to defend those who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the U.S. Capitol as civic-minded individuals who were being politically persecuted, his efforts on his show—accentuated by specials on the streaming service—also generated a scandal.