Primetime host Tucker Carlson is leaving Fox News immediately, the network announced Monday.
Harris Faulkner made a statement on behalf of the network, “Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have mutually agreed to part ways. We want to thank [him] for his service to the network as a host and, prior to that, as a long-term contributor.
Carlson’s final program, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” aired at 8 p.m. on Friday. Beginning Monday evening, Fox News Tonight will air as an interim show with rotating Fox News personalities until a new host is determined.
This announcement comes one week after the network agreed to pay $ 787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems to settle the election software company’s defamation claim. Carlson was one of the witnesses expected to testify if the case had come to trial.
The voting technology company filed a lawsuit in March 2021, accusing Fox News of knowingly airing false statements claiming Dominion helped rig the 2020 presidential election against former President Donald Trump.
The lawsuit revealed text messages and emails between Carlson and other Fox News executives, producers, and hosts after President Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election.
In one of the exchanges, Carlson texts a colleague: “We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait.”
Carlson and other primetime hosts like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham criticized Trump’s lawyers for the unfounded claims that the election was stolen.
Carlson tells Ingraham, “Sidney Powell is lying, by the way. I caught her. It’s insane,” he said. Ingraham responded, “Sidney is a complete nut. No one will work with her. Ditto with Rudy,” according to the redacted opening SJ brief.
“Tucker Carlson Tonight” was Fox News’ most-watched program drawing over 3 million viewers, but Carlson was also its most controversial host. Even after the network faced litigation over its post-2020 election coverage, Carlson continued to suggest that the vote in the presidential race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was not legitimate, which contradicts the sentiments exchanged in the messages made public through the Dominion v. Fox lawsuit.
Most recently, Carlson received backlash from Democrats and Republicans alike for his commentary on the rioters of January 6. Carlson aired security footage and, using selective clips, suggested they were “sightseers.”
Sen.Thom Tillis (R-NC) called Carlson’s commentary “bulls***t,” and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) echoed the sentiment saying the protest was peaceful is “just a lie.”
Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox was announced before longtime CNN primetime host Don Lemon announced he’d been fired by the network after 17 years.
