FOX OUSTS CARLSON
Was channel’s most popular personality
NEW YORK — Fox News on Monday ousted prime-time host Tucker Carlson, whose stew of grievances and political theories about Russia and the Jan. 6 insurrection had grown to define the network in recent years and influence GOP politics.
Fox said that the network and Carlson had “agreed to part ways” but it offered no explanation for the stunning move, saying that the last broadcast of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” aired last Friday.
The break comes amid a cascade of bad legal news for Fox and Carlson. A week ago, Fox agreed to pay more than $787 million to settle a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s airing of false claims following the 2020 presidential election — shortly before Carlson was expected to be called to testify.
CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday aired a report about a man caught up in a Jan. 6 conspiracy theory often discussed on Carlson’s show who said the Fox host was “obsessed” with him, and whose lawyer has put Fox on notice of potential litigation. Carlson also was recently named in a lawsuit by a former Fox producer who said the show had a cruel and misogynistic workplace and that she had been pressured to give misleading testimony in the Dominion case.
Carlson quickly became Fox’s most popular personality after replacing Bill O’Reilly in the network’s prime-time lineup in 2017.
His populist tone about elites out to get average Americans rang true with Fox’s predominantly conservative audience, even leading to talk about him becoming a political candidate himself one day.
He did not immediately return a message on Monday.
Shares of Fox Corp. slid 4% within seconds of the announcement of Carlson’s departure.
“Tucker Carlson had become even bigger than Fox News,” said Brian Stelter, who is writing an upcoming book about Fox, “Network of Lies.” “His sudden ouster will have profound consequences for Fox News, for TV news and the Republican Party.”
When Carlson’s exit was announced during a live showing of the ABC daytime talk show “The View” on Monday, the studio audience applauded. Host Ana Navarro then led the crowd in a singalong to a line from the song, “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye.”