Right-wing prime-time host Tucker Carlson is leaving Fox News instantly, the cable community announced Monday.
The announcement got here days after Fox News’ mother or father firm settled Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million. The firm’s hosts weren’t required to speak in regards to the lawsuit, or apologize for it, as half of the settlement, CNBC previously reported.
“FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to half methods,” the corporate mentioned in a press release Monday. “We thank him for his service to the community as a bunch and previous to that as a contributor.”
There can be no send-off for Carlson, as his final program aired Friday. Carlson had signed off Friday saying he can be again Monday. Carlson’s program, “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” has lengthy been one of Fox’s high rated packages.
The firm would not remark past the discharge, or round whether or not Carlson was being taken off air in response to the Dominion defamation case. Fox News didn’t provide a press release on Carlson’s behalf.
Fox Corp. Class A shares closed down about 3% on Monday.
News of Carlson’s exit got here on the identical day that CNN anchor Don Lemon mentioned he’d been fired from the community and a day after NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell was dismissed for having an inappropriate relationship with an worker.
Carlson, 53, was among the many Fox hosts and executives who had been questioned as half of the Dominion lawsuit. Several of his emails and texts had been half of the evidence released before the settlement, as effectively. In addition, Dominion’s attorneys had listed about 20 episodes that appeared on Fox’s networks as proof of defamation, with Carlson’s amongst them.
Other hosts who had been deposed and half of the proof included Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, in addition to former host Lou Dobbs.
Dominion sued Fox and its networks, arguing the networks “deliberately and falsely” blamed Dominion for the 2020 loss of former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden by airing unsubstantiated claims that the corporate’s machines rigged the election.
Carlson was among the many high anchors who expressed disbelief and skepticism behind the scenes about feedback being made on air, notably by friends like pro-Trump legal professional Sidney Powell.
“It’s unbelievably offensive to me. Our viewers are good individuals they usually imagine it,” Carlson mentioned in one textual content message in the weeks after the election, courtroom papers present.
Dominion pointed to the drop in Fox’s viewers following election night time, when the community known as Arizona for Biden. Behind the scenes, Carlson and his fellow hosts expressed “the menace to them personally.” In a message to his producer on Nov. 5, Carlson mentioned: “We labored actually onerous to construct what now we have. Those f—-ers are destroying our credibility. It enrages me.”
In the weeks following the election, Fox hosted Powell, in addition to Trump legal professional Rudy Giuliani and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell on air at which level they repeated the false claims that Dominion rigged the election.
And whereas Carlson lately hosted Trump on Fox News in current weeks after his indictment in New York, Carlson had known as Trump “a demonic pressure” after Jan. 6, when a violent mob of Trump supporters breached the U.S. Capitol.
Carlson was among the many witnesses slated to testify had the lawsuit gone to trial. On that checklist of witnesses was additionally Abby Grossberg, a former Fox producer who labored on the reveals of Bartiromo and Carlson.
In the weeks main as much as the scheduled trial begin date, Grossberg got here ahead alleging she was coerced into offering deceptive testimony as half of the Dominion lawsuit. Fox has mentioned Grossberg made “unmeritorious authorized claims, that are riddled with false allegations towards Fox and our workers.”
Grossberg’s attorneys mentioned in courtroom papers that she was fired by Fox in retaliation. She has filed lawsuits towards Fox in New York and Delaware, accusing the network of discrimination.
Grossberg cheered Carlson’s departure in a press release Monday, saying, “This is a step in direction of accountability for the election lies and baseless conspiracy theories unfold by Fox News, one thing I witnessed firsthand on the community, in addition to for the abuse and harassment I endured whereas Head of Booking and Senior Producer for Tucker Carlson Tonight. I feel that is nice for America! It’s a giant win for viewers of cable information, not simply those that watch Fox.”
Carlson took over Bill O’Reilly’s prime time slot on Fox in 2017 after O’Reilly left the network underneath controversy. O’Reilly has been accused of sexual harassment by a number of former Fox workers. He has denied the allegations.
While the Dominion lawsuit was unlikely to affect Fox’s enterprise, it was unclear the toll it will tackle its programming and hosts.
Shortly after Smartmatic, one other voting tech firm, sued Fox for defamation in 2021, Dobbs’ weekday program on Fox Business was canceled. Dobbs is called as a defendant in the Smartmatic lawsuit, which is ongoing and is not slated to go to trial till 2025. At the time, Fox mentioned the present’s cancellation was in the works earlier than the lawsuit.
Disclosure: NBCUniversal is the mother or father firm of CNBC.