Fox Fires Tucker Carlson
Russian state TV -- which often broadcasted his anti-US, pro-Russia show in its entirety -- has already offered him a job. Carlson is likely waiting to hear Orbán's deal before making a decision.
Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson has been cancelled. On Monday morning, Fox CEO Suzanne Scott told Carlson he was being taken off the air and his Fox email account was shut off.
His job “ended in a rapid unscheduled disassembly”. He was sacked. Axed. Booted. Bounced. Ousted. Canned. Shitcanned. Asscanned. Removed. Let go. Made redundant. Discharged. Dismissed. Displaced. Disengaged. Dumped. Deselected. Fox corrected a personnel surplus reduction and made a workforce imbalance correction. This involuntary separation (or coerced transition) will allow Tucker to spend more time with his family.
Carlson — the lying, misogynistic, non-binary-candy-hating, racist, xenophobic, QAnon-promoting, transphobic, conspiracy theory-peddling, testicle-tanning, doofus-faced, white supremascist and Putin apologist whose nightly show was the highest rated news [sic] show on cable television in the United States — and Fox suddenly and without warning “agreed to part ways”, according to a carefully-worded statement issued from his now-former employer. Carlson’s producer, Justin Wells, was also fired.
This news raises a new and troubling question: Has Fox become “woke”?
Carlson’s deliberate lies about the 2020 election were a big reason why Fox will be paying more than three-quarters of a billion dollars to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems. The next lawsuit Fox will face is a similar defamation allegation from Smartmatic for $2.7 billion. Smartmatic’s top lawyer says the company will not accept any settlement smaller than the $787.5 million Fox will be paying and Fox must issue a “full retraction” for its months of lies.
While Rupert Murdoch can afford to write that check, he cannot be too happy about it. I assumed there was a good chance Fox would dump one or more of its most outspoken liars, even though Murdoch could have silenced them at any time, if he had wanted to. Perhaps firing Tucker was a condition of Fox’s settlement with Dominion.
Monday’s decision came as a shock to everyone. (“He was totally surprised. He had no idea.” lol) The manner in which Carlson closed his show last Friday (shoving pizza into his yap) indicates he never saw this coming. In fact, advertisments for his Monday night show aired only a few hours before the news broke. Fox is not allowing Carlson an opportunity to say goodbye on the air.
Carlson’s last words on Fox were — appropriately enough — a lie. “We’ll be back on Monday.”
Bridget Todd, director of communications at women’s group Ultraviolet:
Tucker Carlson is a toxic and corrosive person. His departure from Fox . . . is a good thing and long overdue. Carlson is one of the nation’s most prolific mouthpieces for white supremacy, misinformation, and misogyny. . . . Good riddance, Tucker Carlson.
Такер Карлсон has already received a job offer from Russian State TV. If he accepted that position, he wouldn’t have to change a word of what he has said on Fox for years. The Kremlin felt it was “essential” to play Carlson’s pro-Russian segments; indeed, his shows were often broadcast in Russia in its entirety.
Media Matters has posted a 59-page pdf file outlining Carlson’s “descent into white supremacy” over the last 20 years. A brief outline of the wide range of his prejudices that made Carlson a hero to Nazis across America is here.
About one year ago, the Times analyzed 1,150 episodes of Tucker Carlson Tonight.
In 2020, lawyers for Fox argued in court — and U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil agreed — that a "no reasonable viewer" should believe Carlson is telling the truth, that the "general tenor" of his show indicates that he's engaging in "exaggeration" and "non-literal commentary", "bloviating for his audience".
Overheard on Newsmax: “I mean, this is like the 1927 Yankees firing Babe Ruth because of his table manners.”
Links
“The Fox News apology we deserve.” (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert)
“Finally, the Tucker Carlson on-air apology we’ve all been waiting for” (The Daily Show)
Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News after Dominion lawsuit disclosures (Washington Post)
Fox News Parts Ways With Tucker Carlson Days After Dominion Settlement (New York Times)
Tucker Carlson Is Out at Fox News in Media Shocker (The Daily Beast)
"American hero": Tucker Carlson's fans mourn as star right-wing pundit departs Fox News (Salon)
Tucker Carlson’s ouster is another sign that MAGA is shrinking (Washington Post)
Fox News Staffers Celebrate Tucker Carlson’s Departure: ‘Pure Joy’ (Rolling Stone)
Tucker’s Successor Will Be Worse (The Atlantic)
Tucker Carlson, 'Purveyor of Hate,' Out at Fox (Common Dreams)
Why Did Fox News Fire Tucker Carlson? What We Know (New York Magazine)
What we know so far about Tucker Carlson’s shocking Fox News departure (Vox)
Tucker Carlson’s Face Coach (The Daily Show)
