On Monday, April 24th, 2023, a bombshell dropped from the cable news heavens: Fox News was cutting ties with popular primetime host Tucker Carlson.
The move was one of the most shocking to ever hit the cable news landscape. Tucker Carlson was wildly popular with the Fox News audience. His primetime program — Tucker Carlson Tonight — drew millions of nightly viewers and was looked at as the preeminent program in the cable news landscape.
Carlson, notably, wasn’t the only cable news host let go that day. CNN fired Don Lemon after 17 years with the network, which also drew plenty of reactions from both sides of the political aisle.
However, most of the attention on that day and the following weeks was on Tucker Carlson, the future of Fox News, and what his next steps would be.
Carlson’s exit came just days after Fox News settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for a whopping $787.5 million after the election machine company alleged the network knowingly aired false and malicious content surrounding its role in the outcome of the 2020 election.
Tucker Carlson has maintained that he was fired by Fox News as part of an unspoken agreement between the network and Dominion Voting Systems as part of the settlement. Those close to him — namely, his biographer, Chadwick Moore — have backed up those claims. Fox News, however, has continually denied those assertions.
On the two-year anniversary of his firing, we’re going back in time to review some of the opinions shared about the departure of Carlson to see who was right and who was wrong in their reactions.
Who Was Right
Mark Levin
Mark Levin has been hosting a Fox News weekend show since 2018. In the days following Carlson’s departure, a vocal group said they would be protesting the network and would no longer watch after the firing of Carlson.
Levin shared that if that was true, he’d end his program with the network.
“If you’re gonna boycott my show too, I won’t do it,” said Levin. “I don’t have to do it. I do it because I think you’ll like it … So, if that’s the attitude — and I don’t think it is, I think it’s a few morons who get online and just do what they do — it’s no skin off my nose.”
Levin’s assertion that those boycotting Fox News was “a few morons who get online and just do what they do” was largely correct, based off of the ratings and digital performance Fox News has featured since the firing.
Keith Olbermann
Keith Olbermann was correct about Fox News before Tucker Carlson was even fired.
In the midst of the defamation lawsuit between the network and Dominion Voting Systems, before the nearly $800 million settlement was announced, that Fox News would weather the storm by firing a high-profile name.
“Fox ‘News’ is on the ropes. Tucker Carlson is on the ropes. Both may very well escape intact. Fox has before,” Olbermann said. “It survived the Roger Ailes rape scandal, it survived the Bill O’Reilly harassment scandal, it survived the Glenn Beck anti-Semitism scandal.
“However, it survived the Glenn Beck anti-Semitism scandal by firing Glenn Beck. It survived the Bill O’Reilly harassment scandal by firing Bill O’Reilly. It survived the Roger Ailes rape scandal by firing Roger Ailes. If it survives the combined Dominion and January 6th video scandals, it will do so by firing somebody.”
If you’ll remember, Tucker Carlson’s firing came after he had showcased hours of previously unseen video footage from the January 6th Insurrection provided to him by Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). The primetime host’s encapsulation was highly controversial, alleging that the attack at the Capitol was “mostly peaceful chaos”, that those inside the Capitol were “sightseers”, and that police officers acted as “tour guides” for the rioters.
But, while everyone mentioned in this article was sharing a reaction to the news that Tucker Carlson had been fired or what the future of Fox News or his X program would look like, Keith Olbermann was right about his prediction that someone at Fox News would be fired and that Tucker Carlson was “on the ropes.” Olbermann made his prediction on Friday, March 10th, more than six weeks before Carlson was fired.
Michael Smerconish
Following Carlson’s exit and the doom-and-gloom shared by many in conservative media, SiriusXM host Michael Smerconish posited that Fox News wouldn’t miss a beat without Tucker Carlson.
“They’re fine! What Murdoch knows — father and son — that people really are expendable and interchangeable,” Smerconish said.
He’s right. In his argument, Smerconish said Fox News weathered the exits for Roger Ailes, Megyn Kelly, Bill O’Reilly, and Glenn Beck, among a bevy of others, and continued on. The cable news network has set ratings records in recent months, well after the departure of Tucker Carlson.
Greg Kelly
The Newsmax and 77 WABC host wasn’t afraid to point out that his cable news home was benefiting from the exit of Tucker Carlson.
A few weeks after Carlson’s exit, Kelly was asked by 77 WABC morning host Sid Rosenberg if Newsmax had seen an uptick in viewership.
“Fox is having an identity crisis, and we may benefit from that,” said Kelly.
It is undeniable that Newsmax benefited greatly from Carlson’s departure from Fox News.
In March 2023, Newsmax averaged 113,000 total viewers in primetime. In May, the first full month following the change in the Fox News primetime lineup, it averaged 298,000 total viewers in the window. Today, Newsmax typically finishes a given week in between 275,000 and 325,000 total viewers in primetime.
Bill Handel
In the wake of the end of Tucker Carlson Tonight, the former Fox News host alleged that his contract had been breached by the network and he was considering legal action against it.
KFI-AM 640 morning host Bill Handel called Carlson’s case “a crock.”
“All things considered, Carlson doesn’t have much of a case,” Handel said. “That’s my take on it.”
It would appear as if Bill Handel was correct. Tucker Carlson never legally challenged his contract or any other matter against Fox News, for that matter. One could posit that if he truly believed his contract had been breached and he was owed millions by the network — or any future earnings had been diminished due to his dismissal — he would have taken the matter up in court. But, he did not.
Who Was Wrong
Glenn Beck
During a show in the immediate aftermath of Carlson’s firing, The Blaze founder Glenn Beck made a pitch to Carlson to come work for his company. As part of his pitch, he shared that he believed Fox News would experience a gigantic loss without Carlson.
“I know so many people that still like Fox,” Beck said. “And they watch the other shows. But they’re like, ‘Tucker is the only one I trust.’ You lose Tucker Carlson, and I think that kills them.”
While Fox News did lose viewers in the short-term, the network has set viewership records since Carlson’s departure.
Bill O’Reilly
Tucker Carlson took over the 8 PM ET timeslot on Fox News from Bill O’Reilly in 2016, after another high-profile departure from Fox News.
On the day of Carlson’s exit, O’Reilly suggested that Fox News was going to continue a slide in the ratings after Carlson’s departure.
“Fox News, in my opinion, is going to diminish now. It’s already skidding in the ratings, and it has been for a few months. But now that’s gonna accelerate. The Murdochs don’t want Donald Trump to be president again … so the MAGA people, which represents a large percentage of the Fox audience, they’re not gonna hang around there.”
It feels safe to suggest that Fox News has not diminished since Carlson’s departure. Furthermore, it feels that, largely, those viewers who would identify as MAGA supporters have stayed with Fox News. In fact, the two highest weeks of total day and primetime viewership in 2025 for the network have been during the weeks of Trump’s inauguration and his quasi-State of the Union address.
Megyn Kelly
Megyn Kelly used the terms “massacre, bloodbath, murder, devastation” to describe the ratings at 8 PM ET on Fox News in the aftermath of Carlson’s departure.
“The audience is gone. They left,” Kelly said one week after Carlson’s exit. “There’s virtually no one there at 8:00 PM anymore. Just as bad as I’m sure Fox News was worried it would get, it’s far worse than that … “Fox News is in a downward spiral that they’re going to have to claw to get themselves out of … They live off their primetime, and the food has dried up.”
While, yes, Fox News did see a slide in the primetime ratings in the wake of the end of Tucker Carlson Tonight, it also quickly rebounded. After the network tabbed Jesse Watters to assume the timeslot, the program is now routinely either the top or second-most watched program in all of cable news.
Eric Bolling
Eric Bolling, a former Fox News host in his own right, was helming a primetime program for Newsmax in the weeks after Carlson was fired.
After Tucker Carlson announced he would host a digital video show on the then-newly rebranded X, Bolling argued that a legal battle between Fox News and its former host was brewing.
“If you thought the Fox News and Tucker Carlson fight was already over, it looks like it’s just beginning, folks,” Bolling said. “It’s about to get very, very, really, nasty.”
While a “very, very, really, nasty” legal fight between the two entities would have been fodder for dozens of cable news and radio shows, the battle never really came to fruition. Carlson’s camp has made arguments that Fox News had breached the host’s contract, while Fox News considered trying to shut down Carlson’s new venture by claiming it was in violation of his non-compete agreement, but neither side ever waded into taking legal action against the other.
Jen Psaki
After Tucker Carlson announced his new program on X, MSNBC host Jen Psaki argued the venture was likely to fail due to the nature of video programs on the social media platform.
“Are Carlson’s millions of nightly watchers really going to seek out his hate speech on a platform largely designed for scrolling?” she asked in a story authored on MSNBC.com. “Carlson is now without the backing of America’s most-watched cable network. How many 65-year-olds are going to drastically change their routine?”
The answer to the first question is a resounding yes. Carlson’s programs on X rack up millions of views. He also has 16 million followers on the platform. Even his lowest-viewed programs reach between 2 and 3 million views. It could be argued that plenty of 65-year-olds drastically changed their routine to receive his content.
In the same piece for MSNBC, the network’s dark web expert Ben Collins posited that “I don’t think he understands. He’s just some guy on Twitter now.” I don’t believe that any reasonable person — even Carlson’s harshest critics — could claim that’s the case.
Howard Kurtz
After the high-profile exits of Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon, Fox News media reporter Howard Kurtz questioned if a new era of cable news was about to be upon us during his Media Buzz program.
“Management at all the networks may be more likely to rein in their top talent and insist on fact-checking rather than risk embarrassment or lawsuits for the airing of false information. That, if it comes to pass, might just be a worthwhile outcome,” Kurtz said.
Oh, how I wish he was correct. While the cable news world would undeniably be a better space if network executives insisted on fact-checking rather than sharing opinions in the hopes that viewers aren’t smart enough to know that they’ve just been fed a lie.
But, considering that ABC News, CBS News, CNN, MSNBC, and Newsmax have all either settled or are in the process of settling lawsuits brought against them for either reporting inaccuracies or being accused of defamation, I’d say we’re still a long way away from networks mandating facts to the forefront of any discussion.
Dan Mandis
After Carlson announced a new show on X, SuperTalk 99.7 WTN morning show host Dan Mandis argued that a show on X by Tucker Carlson would be a big win for the social media platform.
“Frankly, Tucker will be able to do whatever the hell he wants on Twitter,” said Mandis. “I think by and large, I really like it. This is going to send millions of people back to Twitter. So for Tucker and Elon Musk, this is brilliant.”
According to figures from Emarketer, 7 million U.S. visitors have left the social media platform since Elon Musk purchased it in November 2022. More than 115,000 users deactivated their accounts on the day following the 2024 election alone. It is safe to say that Carlson’s show has not sent “millions of people back to Twitter.”
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