In a shocking development, Fox News has announced Tucker Carlson is departing the network, effective immediately.
According to a statement from Fox News, the network and the primetime host “have agreed to part ways”.
“We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” the network said in a statement.
Carlson was at the center of a defamation lawsuit brought forth by Dominion Voting System. Evidence uncovered in the suit showed Carlson had privately shared his disgust for then-President Donald Trump. However, on the air, Carlson shared glowing remarks about the 45th President. Carlson scored the first televised interview with the former President after he was indicted earlier this month.
Dominion Voting Systems alleged that Carlson, along with other Fox News hosts like Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, and Maria Bartiromo knowingly peddled falsehoods centered around the 2020 presidential election.
Fox News settled the case with Dominion for $787.5 million early last week.
However, a report from Los Angeles Times media reporter Stephen Battaglio claims Carlson was pushed out by Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, and was unrelated to the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit.
According to Battaglio, Murdoch was concerned about Carlson’s encapsulation of the January 6th Insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. The Fox News host was the beneficiary of more than 40,000 hours of security camera footage given to him by Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). In a subsequent story on the footage, Carlson called rioters “sightseers” and “mostly peaceful”.
Battaglio continued by saying the recent lawsuit brought for by former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg also played into Carlson’s exit. Grossberg claimed she was bullied and subjected to anti-Semitic comments while working under Carlson.
Since joining the network as a primetime host in 2016, Carlson has routinely led the cable news ratings war between Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC. Tucker Carlson Tonight averaged more than 3 million viewers per episode.
The network says a rotating panel of Fox News personalities will host the 8:00 PM ET timeslot previously occupied by Carlson.
Carlson’s exit comes less than a week after another Fox News personality, Dan Bongino, announced his departure from the network. He claimed contract negotiations between himself and the network fell apart, and denied reports his exit was tied to the Dominion Voting Systems settlement.
Several reports also claim that Carlson’s executive producer, Justin Wells, has also departed the network.
