Fox News and top-rating host Tucker Carlson ‘agree to part ways’

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Washington: Right-wing primetime host Tucker Carlson is leaving Fox News immediately, days after the Rupert Murdoch-owned cable network settled a historic defamation lawsuit for spreading election lies.

In a surprise statement on Monday morning (US time), the company announced that Fox and its highest-rating primetime presenter “had agreed to part ways”.

Fox and friends: Donald Trump, Rupert Murdoch and Tucker Carlson.Credit: AP

“We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” the brief statement said.

“Mr Carlson’s last program was Friday, April 21st. Fox News Tonight will air live at 8PM/ET starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named.”

The news took the US media world by surprise and rocked the conservative movement, particularly as Carlson did not sign off from last Friday’s final Tucker Carlson Tonight show, which has aired since 2016.

Minutes later came another unexpected announcement involving veteran CNN anchor Don Lemon, who revealed on Twitter he had been fired.

Lemon did not provide a reason, other than to note “it is clear that there are some larger issues at play.”

However, the termination came after Variety magazine published a story this month alleging Lemon had mistreated female colleagues during his career at the network. Earlier this year, he also came under fire for saying that Republican presidential nomination candidate Nikki Haley, who is 51, was not “in her prime”.

“I was informed by my agent this morning that I have been terminated by CNN,” Lemon tweeted. “I am stunned. After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly.”

The reasons for Carlson’s departure have not yet been outlined by Fox or the 53-year-old presenter, who was the network’s most popular primetime host, netting an average of more than 3 million viewers per night. But he was also a deeply polarising figure, who used his platform to push everything from anti-trans views to extreme claims about vaccines or conspiracy theories about migrants being brought into the US to “replace” white people.

The shake-up also comes only a week after the company agreed to pay a $US787.5 million ($1.2 billion) settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over charges that the cable network baselessly accused the company of rigging its voting machines against former president Donald Trump in the 2020 election.

Far-right Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene characterised the move as a sacking, warning that “cable news is about to be taught a lesson after Fox News caved to the woke mob and fired Tucker Carlson.”

“Americans are about to quit watching,” she said.

The Dominion lawsuit was the most-scrutinised media libel case in decades, with troves of pre-released emails and text messages exposing the extent to which Murdoch, company executives and high-profile presenters helped promote false claims about the election despite knowing they were not true.

Carlson is also facing a separate lawsuit from a former Fox News producer, Abby Grossberg, who claims that he presided over a misogynistic workplace culture, which included a work space that was decorated with pictures of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wearing a swimsuit.

Tucker Carlson, Fox News host, left, and former President Donald Trump, talk while watching golfers on the 16th tee during the final round of the LIV Golf Invitational at Trump National.Credit: AP

Until now, however, the network had appeared to stand by Carlson, who helped push some of Trump’s vote-rigging claims, despite a text message revealing that he hated the then-president “passionately”.

“We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights,” Carlson wrote on January 4, 2021, according to filings unveiled in court. “I truly can’t wait.”

“I hate him passionately,” he continued. “… there isn’t really an upside to Trump.”

He also privately acknowledged that the claims of rigged Dominion voting systems were “absurd”. Yet when Fox’s White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich tweeted that “there is no evidence that any voting system” altered the election, Carlson suggested to fellow presenter Sean Hannity she should be fired.

“It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke,” he added.

A few weeks ago – after the text messages had been released in court – Carlson gave Trump his first public interview since being arraigned on federal charges for falsifying business records.

“Tucker Carlson is a dangerous misinformer,” said Media Matters president Angelo Carusone. “Tucker served as the bridge between Fox News and the most extreme parts of the right-wing base — laundering anti-trans paranoia, Infowars nonsense, election lies, and venomous rhetoric including the great replacement conspiracy theory nightly.

“But even without Tucker Carlson, Fox News is still Fox News.”

It is not clear what Carlson might do next in his career, although the Russian state television channel RT has already suggested he would be welcome at the organisation.

“Hey @TuckerCarlson, you can always question more with @RT_com,” it posted on Twitter.

Meanwhile, Don Lemon’s termination was applauded by some women’s groups. Bridget Todd, director of communications at UltraViolet, a national gender equity advocacy organisation, said: “We hope Lemon’s termination sets a stark example for other anchors and personalities – sexist and misogynistic remarks will not be tolerated.

“It’s clear that the voices of CNN’s audience and demands of accountability play a significant role in how these decisions are made. We urge CNN to do better going forward.”

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