In a stunning announcement, Fox News said on April 24 that it has ended Tucker Carlson’s reign as the host of the network’s highest-rated primetime show (and one of the highest-rated shows on basic cable, period), effective immediately.
The news came less than a week after Fox’s massive settlement with Dominion over its spread of misinformation about Dominion voting machines. Though Carlson’s role in the lawsuit was relatively small, some of his texts that were uncovered in the discovery process for the suit made headlines, and many reports are citing them as the reason why Carlson got the boot.
Fox News’s statement said very little, merely that the two parties “have agreed to part ways” and “we thank him for his service to the network.” After two days of silence, Carlson finally tweeted a video that didn’t directly address the situation. In the absence of an explanation, there’s some understandable speculation that another, bigger scandal is behind it waiting to be uncovered.
But it’s also looking more and more likely that Carlson’s ouster was the result of a combination of factors, including disparaging remarks about Fox News executives, a toxic workplace culture, and Carlson’s view that he was untouchable at Fox News and that the network needed him more than he needed it.
Whatever the real reason(s), they were enough that Fox News felt it needed to cut off its biggest star without even giving him a chance to say goodbye. It’s still unclear what’s next for Carlson or what Fox News looks like without Carlson at its center.
Here’s what we know so far.
What happened?
Tucker Carlson is no longer working for Fox News Media. His show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, which ran on the network for over six years, is over. Fox News Tonight will replace it on an interim basis. Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade hosted its first week. He briefly mentioned Carlson’s departure, saying: “As you probably have heard, Fox News and Tucker Carlson…
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