In one of the most shocking political developments of the last decade, Tucker Carlson parted ways with Fox News on Monday. The decision was apparently abrupt, as the network was planning to air an interview with Carlson and 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on the very next show.
Obviously, that segment has now been canned, and Fox News is reportedly filling the timeslot with an hour of Fox News Tonight using a revolving door of hosts.
Speculation as to why Carlson exited the network so quickly has already begun. Many are suggesting that some provision in the Dominion lawsuit demanded it, but that seems unlikely given Carlson was planning to be on air until this happened. Still, the Dominion lawsuit is likely the catalyst in other ways.
As RedState reported, Fox News recently settled a defamation claim brought by the voting system company for $787 billion. Just a day prior to that, I had written that big changes were no doubt coming to the network given how bleak things looked.
The long and short of this is that Fox News is in a lot of trouble. The amount of money they could be required to pay out if they lose at trial could cripple the network, and there’s no guarantee that Dominion will give them the out of a lower settlement. Wherever this goes, you can probably bet that big changes are coming to Fox News in the future.
I’ll be honest in saying that Carlson’s ouster didn’t seem probable at the time, though. He is obviously their biggest draw and likely their biggest money maker as far as hosts go. For him to leave has to mean something more happened than just executives being mad about the lawsuit settlement.
Rather, it seems as if Carlson was planning to go on air and talk about the lawsuit, causing a disagreement with management that severed the relationship.
According to another report, it was Rupert Murdoch who ultimately decided to end things with Carlson. That would make sense if Carlson was looking to defy management’s demands on coverage.
Carlson is not the type to take anything lying down, and it makes perfect sense that he’d want to go on air and clear his name. After all, he was the only primetime host following the 2020 election to push back on Sidney Powell and others who were making claims about Dominion and the “Kraken.” Carlson maintained an air of objectiveness throughout the ordeal, demanding the Trump-adjacent lawyer provide evidence before being given time on his show. That led to an angry response from Powell.
Obviously, though, Fox News would want its hosts to go completely dark on the topic. Anything less would risk the settlement they just negotiated, possibly costing them even more money. In that sense, I can see both sides of the issue. But as I said, Carlson doesn’t take things lying down, and it appears that he didn’t take kindly to being told not to touch the issue. No doubt, he wanted to set the record straight about his involvement in the Dominion fiasco.
Regardless, I have no doubt Carlson will not only land on his feet but become even more popular. He has the talent and the following to set the podcasting world on fire, and I’d guess that’s the direction he goes. He’ll be able to call his own shots and not be beholden to the demands of a corporate overlord. The future for Fox News isn’t quite as bright. They’ve lost their top audience draw, and no other person exists who can fill that hole. Viewers are going to be angry over this, no matter what the details are.