Tucker Carlson Fired By Lachlan Murdoch; Here's What We Know
BY TYLER DURDEN
MONDAY, APR 24, 2023 - 06:13 PM
Update (2114ET): After an entire day wondering why in the hell Fox News would can the highest-rated cable news host in the world, ever, the New York Times comes out with this;
Who:
The decision to let Mr. Carlson go was made on Friday night by Lachlan Murdoch, the chief executive of Fox Corporation, and Suzanne Scott, chief executive of Fox News Media, according to a person briefed on the move. Mr. Carlson was informed on Monday morning by Ms. Scott, another person briefed on the move said.
Why?
[T]he power that Mr. Carlson, 53, wielded outside Fox News could not insulate him from a growing list of troubles inside the network related to his conduct on and off the air, some of which had been grating on Mr. Murdoch and his father, Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of Fox Corporation, who co-founded the network in 1996, according to the two people with knowledge of the company’s decision.
...
The host, a polarizing and unpopular figure at the network outside of his own staff, was exposed as part of a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems as a bully who denigrated colleagues and sources, often in profane and sexist language, and called for the firing of Fox journalists whose coverage he disliked. He has also drawn condemnation from the right and left for his role in fostering a revisionist account of the assault on the United States Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
So he was mean to people?
We also know that last week, Tucker attacked Big Pharma in one of his monologues.
Oh, there's more:
One early point of contention was Mr. Carlson’s 2021 documentary, “Patriot Purge,” which advanced the conspiracy theory that the attack that day was a so-called false flag operation designed to discredit the former president and his political movement. Lachlan Murdoch was said to have been caught off guard by the program, which also led two conservative Fox News contributors to quit in protest, Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes.
In March, Mr. Carlson edited down tens of thousands of hours of footage from the attack given to him by Speaker Kevin McCarthy and used them to falsely portray the rioters as people Mr. Carlson called “mostly peaceful” onlookers who had innocently ambled into the Capitol. The broadcast drew a rebuke from Senator Mitch McConnell, who is a friend of Rupert Murdoch’s and said Mr. Carlson had drawn “offensive and misleading conclusions.”
So he showed the public the January 6th footage and dared question the event.
The Times also says that one of Carlson's former producers said he ran a "toxic" workplace.
And yet, is any of that worth giving up tens of millions in Tucker-related ad revenue? It seems that if you routinely question the regime, it is.
* * *
Tucker Carlson, the highest rated cable news host in history, is out at Fox News. The news comes days after the network cut ties with host Dan Bongino 48 hours after the network settled with Dominion Voting Systems for nearly $800 million.
"Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways," reads a statement from the network, which thanks him for his service "as a host and prior to that as a contributor."
Carlson's executive producer, Justin Wells, is also out at the network according to Semafor.
According to the statement, Carlson's last show was Friday, April 21st as he continued to dominate, and his slot will now be filled by 'an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named."
Full statement from the network (emphasis ours),:
FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.
Mr. Carlson's last program was Friday April 21st. Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 PM/ET starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named.
FOX News Media operates the FOX News Channel (FNC), FOX Business Network (FBN), FOX News Digital, FOX News Audio, FOX News Books, the direct-to-consumer streaming services FOX Nation and FOX News International and the free ad- supported television service FOX Weather. Currently the number one network in all of cable, FNC has also been the most watched television news channel for more than 21 consecutive years, while FBN ranks among the top business channels on cable. Owned by Fox Corporation, FOX News Media reaches nearly 200 million people each month.
Shares of 21st Century Fox dropped like a rock on the news, and is now sitting at January lows (the drop in FOXA's market cap is around the same as the settlement with Dominion).
One of Carlson's last monologues at Fox...
Were Carlson and Bongino sacrificed as part of the settlement?
And where to next?
Rumble..?
