On Tuesday afternoon, controversial former TV news host, Tucker Carlson, announced his return to the screen. This time, he will be introducing a version of his popular tv show, Tucker Carlson Tonight (formerly on Fox News), to Twitter.
The news comes roughly two weeks after it was revealed that Fox had fired Tucker Carlson shortly after their nearly $800 million dollar settlement with Dominion Voting over claims of defamation involving the 2020 election.
Carlson’s announcement was done via a three-minute video on Twitter. In it, he made light references to some of the possible rubs that led to his departure from Fox News, hinting that legacy news media encouraged half-truths or lack of context that left the American people less than ideally informed.
Carlson also hinted that the show was only one possible iron in the fire: “Starting soon, we’ll be bringing a new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter. We bring some other things too, which we’ll tell you about. But for now, we’re just grateful to be here.”
Twitter CEO Elon Musk took to Twitter, giving his endorsement of the former primetime superpower coming to Twitter but making it clear that there were no nepotism or business dealings behind the move: “On this platform, unlike the one-way street of broadcast, people are able to interact, critique and refute whatever he or anyone may say…And, of course, anything misleading will get @CommunityNotes. I also want to be clear that we have not signed a deal of any kind…”
Musk put an exclamation point on his hopes to create an anti-partisan environment for Twitter by encouraging another recently unemployed primetime host a place to further their career, tweeting former CNN host Don Lemon to say, “Have you considered doing your show on this platform? Maybe worth a try. The audience is much bigger.”
Tucker Carlson’s show revival might be in violation of a non-compete clause he has with Fox News through 2024. Breaching this part of the contract could mean a big financial hit in the payout of his remaining contractual agreement; however, sources close to Carlson have stated that he is less concerned with the financial hit than he is with continuing to stay relevant within the public discourse.
