American TV presenter Tucker Carlson is leaving Fox News after 14 years in office. Information about his dismissal was published on the official website of the channel.
“Mr Carlson’s last show aired on Friday, April 21” Fox News.
The company does not disclose the reasons for Carlson’s departure or the person who initiated the termination of the employment contract. Along with the host, executive producer Justin Wells was also fired.
The show will now be called Fox News Tonight and will be presented by rotating presenters for the first time until a full-time presenter is eventually selected.
According to this BloombergFox News’ capitalization fell more than $690 million, its shares tumbled 5.4 percent on news of the sacking of one of the channel’s most popular faces.
Tucker Carlson Tonight
The Tucker Carlson Tonight show has aired at 8 p.m. on weekdays for over five years. In 2017, the program replaced the popular Bill O’Reilly show and quickly gained high ratings. Carlson had the second-highest viewership on Fox News from 2017 to 2020, behind only Primetime’s Sean Hannity. In the first quarter of this year, each program was watched by an average of 3.25 million people. New York Times. Also, the majority of viewers were between the ages of 25 and 54 – the most attractive age tier for advertisers.
Latest Release Carlson was no different, the TV presenter ate hot dog pizza on air and, frankly, she did not yet know that she was running the show for the last time. He traditionally ended the program by saying, “We will be back on Monday. In the meantime, spend the best weekend with your loved ones.”
NYT sources familiar with the situation confirmed that Carlson did not know ahead of time about the layoff, but faced a reality on Monday, April 24.
Carlson joined Fox News as a reporter in 2009. She was the co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend from 2012 to 2016.
It is noteworthy that less than an hour after Fox News announced Carlson’s dismissal, CNN host Don Lemon, who worked for the channel for 17 years, also announced that he had been “fired without notice.” CNN called his remarks “false” and explained that he was “offered the opportunity to meet with management, but instead shared it on Twitter.”
lawsuits
Carlson was fired less than a week after parent company Fox News settled a defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems. Fox News was accused by Dominion of spreading fake news about the 2020 election campaign. In particular, lawyers for former President Donald Trump have appeared on the channel repeatedly, including on Carlson’s program, accusing DVS of falsifying election results. Under the terms of the peace agreement, the channel will pay $787.5 million to software and voting machine suppliers.
Also, former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg sued Carlson. She claims that a former colleague has created a “misogynistic and discriminatory culture” in the newsroom. Grossberg stated that on his first day in office, his workplace was decorated with large photos of Parliament Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a swimsuit.
The lawsuit was filed in March 2023.
Criticism of the authorities
Carlson was a supporter of Republican Trump during his presidency, as both were far-right on many issues, such as immigration reform or race relations. Often, the TV presenter constantly criticized the representatives of the Democratic Party, and after the election of Joe Biden as head of state, she personally attacked him with the most severe criticism.
Therefore, in April 2022, he criticized the president’s decision to provide financial assistance to Ukraine, demanding that he first check how the previously allocated funds are spent. He said in November that Biden and his supporters were trying to prolong the Ukraine conflict, and that they were running “political purges” by prosecuting Trump in March 2023.
On the day the Russian military special operation began, when the United States announced sanctions on Russia, Carlson defended Vladimir Putin and invited the audience to answer the question: “Why do I hate Putin?”
Carlson’s speeches were often quoted in the Russian media – after the news of his dismissal, he was offered a job on Vladimir Solovyov’s TV channel.
“Dear Tucker! The American media has also lost the last voice of reason. If such an offer seems interesting to you, we will be happy to offer you a job as a specialist or presenter, ”says the Soloviev.Live post on Telegram.