Monday got off to a wild start, with news that Tucker Carlson was suddenly, out of seemingly nowhere, done at Fox News. (Don Lemon is also — and also shockingly — out at CNN.) Initial reports made it sound amicable, that they’d agreed to go their separate ways. Newer reports, though, claim that Tucker was straight-up fired, and that he was as stunned by the news as everyone.
Vanity Fair has a more detailed report on how it went down:
On Monday morning, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott called Carlson and informed him he was being taken off the air, and his Fox News email account was shut off. According to a source briefed on the conversation, Carlson was stunned by his sudden ouster from his 8 p.m. show, the most watched program in cable news last month. Carlson was in the midst of negotiating the renewal of his Fox News contract through 2029, the source said. As of last week, Carlson had told people he expected the contract to be renewed.
But why was Tucker terminated? Apparently not even he knows. Scott reportedly told him that the decision was made “from above,” which likely means Rupert Murdoch himself. Carlson has also allegedly speculated that Murdoch’s children intend to sell the company down the road — shades of Succession’s Waystar Royco — and they wanted his controversial show off their airwaves.
There have already been other reports about the big decision. The Los Angeles Times claims it has to do with those two lawsuits brought against them by former producer Abby Grossberg, who’s already made public some unflattering stories about working alongside him. The Washington Post, meanwhile, reports that the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit, specifically unearthed comments Tucker had made about management, “played a role in his departure.”
More details may emerge later, but for now, Fox News viewers have already seen their last Tucker Carlson show, at least on that network. After all, his termination was effective immediately. Instead, those tuning in at 8pm will have to made do with Brian Kilmeade. At least Tucker has Megyn Kelly on his side.
(Via Vanity Fair)