Tucker Carlson was shocked by the decision to fire him and has still not been told why, according to reports, but his departure could be part of a plan to sell Fox News, sources told DailyMail.com.
The 53-year-old negotiated the extension of his Fox News contract through 2029, which earned him more than $20 million a year, and expected it to be extended, Vanity purse reported.
Carlson, who joined Fox in 2009 after stints at CNN, PBS and MSNBC, was not told why he was fired when CEO Suzanne Scott called him Monday morning.
Scott told him the decision was made “from above.” The decision was made Friday night by Lachlan Murdoch, according to multiple reports.
A Fox News source told DailyMail.com: “Tucker has still not received any indication as to why he was taken off the air. His producer Justin Wells was also fired.
“We think Rupert wants to sell the company and it’s harder to find an institutional buyer with Tucker as the lead. Tucker gone makes it a more attractive media company to buy.’
Tucker Carlson, 53, was fired by Fox News on Monday. He was not given a reason for his impeachment, but was reportedly told it was a decision made ‘from above’
Rupert Murdoch, seen in November 2019, is considering selling Fox News, sources told DailyMail.com, and felt the network was more attractive to buyers without Carlson
Fox gave no reason for the departure of its most-watched news anchor, saying on Monday, “Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways.
“We thank him for his service to the network as a host and before that as a contributor.”
A senior contributor who works closely with his show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, told DailyMail.com they were all stunned by the news.
“Nobody I know was told about it in advance. We were blinded,” the employee said.
Some have speculated that Carlson’s role in the Dominion voting system defamation suit, which Fox settled for $787.5 million last week, was a factor.
Carlson’s text messages to his producer embarrassed the network, with the hugely influential conservative stating that he “passionately” hated Donald Trump, describing him as “a demonic force, a destroyer.”
He singled out Trump’s attorney Sidney Powell for particular venom, calling her a “c***” on Nov. 22, 2020.
He confirmed that her claims about Dominion switching votes were nonsense, saying, “The software is absurd.”
On his show that same night, he said, “We don’t know anything about the software that many say was rigged. We do not know. We should find out.’
But Carlson was far from the most outspoken supporter of allegations that the election was stolen.
The Wall Street Journal and media reporter Brian Stelter said Carlson’s text messages criticizing senior leadership — revealed as part of the case — played more of a role in his firing.
Many of the messages were redacted at the request of Fox lawyers, but have been seen by Fox top executives.
Carlson is seen attending a “Populism and the Right” seminar at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Washington D.C. on March 29
Carlson became a household name through Tucker Carlson Tonight, which became Fox News’ flagship show. In 2022, it averaged about 3.3 million viewers per show
Those made public included Carlson telling a colleague the day after Joe Biden’s election was called, “Do the executives understand how much credibility and trust we’ve lost with our audience?”
In another he said, “Those bastards are destroying our credibility.”
He later wrote, “A combination of incompetent liberals and top leadership happens with too much pride to back down.”
Another factor would be the number of separate lawsuits against him.
Abby Grossberg, a former top booker on his show, has sued Carlson and Fox for a hostile workplace, sexual harassment and other alleged wrongdoing.
She claimed she was “coerced, intimidated and misinformed” as she prepared to testify in the $1.6 billion Dominion defamation case.
Grossberg added that as a woman she was discriminated against at Fox, “overworked, undervalued, denied advancement opportunities” and subjected to “vicious sexist stereotypes.”
Grossberg told DailyMail.com that Carlson’s firing seemed to her like an “admission” of guilt by the network.
“This is a step toward accountability for the election lies and baseless conspiracy theories being spread by Fox News, something I have seen firsthand on the network, as well as for the abuse and harassment I endured when I became head of Booking and Senior Producer was for Tucker Carlson Tonight. Grossberg said.
“I think this is great for America! It’s a big win for cable news viewers, not just those who watch Fox.”
Grossberg’s lead attorney, Gerry Filippatos, said Carlson’s departure “marks an unexpected but welcome expression of contrition towards Ms. Grossberg that we welcome and place in the category of ‘institutional change’ that we need to move us closer to an amicable solution.” to take off the case. Mrs. Grossberg’s lawsuits.
“We duly noticed that move and thank Fox News for it.
Today is a partial vindication for Ms. Grossberg, who was a journalist before joining Fox News and now again after she was fired in retaliation for speaking the truth about the unlawful treatment she suffered there as a woman and a “represented.” witness under oath.’
Her other attorney, Tanvir Rahman, also of the firm Filippatos PLLC, said Grossberg still intended to impeach Carlson in her Southern District of New York (SDNY) federal suit against him and Fox.
“Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox News is, in part, an admission of the systemic lies, harassment and conspiracy claimed by our client, former top producer, Abby Grossberg,” Rahman said.
‘Mr. Carlson and his subordinates remain individual defendants in the SDNY case and we look forward to taking their depositions under oath very shortly.”
And a Jan. 6 protester, Ray Epps, has written a legal letter to Carlson demanding an on-air apology after Carlson claimed he was an FBI informant, sent to the Capitol to whip up the riot and put Donald Trump in to discredit.
Carlson has declined to comment on his firing.
An interim roster of hosts will take over in his absence until a permanent replacement is chosen.
While liberals celebrated his departure, conservatives mourned his loss. Many of his die-hard viewers are now wondering where to go next.
Shares in Fox Corp, the network’s parent company, fell 5 percent after the announcement, wiping $500 million off the market value.
His departure also comes just four days after Dan Bongino’s, and several months after Fox “parted” with former President Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara.
Photographed in 2003 after joining CNN, Carlson was recognizable wearing a bow tie early in his career. He dropped the ties in the 2000s after taking some abuse of them at New York’s Penn Station
For decades, Carlson seemed untouchable, with Fox defending him through a string of dramas.
Last week, his Thursday night show at 8 p.m. drew nearly 500,000 more viewers than Sean Hannity, Fox’s second most-watched host, in the 9 p.m. hour.
In 2010, he created the conservative news site The Daily Caller. He sold his stake in 2020, three years after getting his own Fox News show.
In December 2018, he told his viewers that immigrants are “making our country poorer and dirtier and more divided.”
In March 2019, liberal watchdog Media Matters published audio of Carlson calling on a radio show from 2006-11, making several derogatory remarks about women and defending child rape, and making derogatory remarks about foreigners.
“Arranging a marriage between a 16-year-old and a 27-year-old is not the same as taking a stranger off the street and raping her,” he said, defending a man jailed for facilitating child rape.
In other clips, he said that women should “be quiet and do what they’re told,” and described women as “extremely primitive, they’re simple, they’re not that hard to understand.”
He stated that “Iraq is a crappy place full of a bunch of, you know, semi-literate primitive apes,” adding that he has “zero sympathy for them or their culture,” where people “don’t use toilet paper or forks.”
Carlson declined to apologize, saying the comments were made on a radio show many years ago.
“Fox News is behind us,” he said the night the audio came out.
“They have been since day one. Toughness is a rare quality in a TV network and we’re thankful for that.”
More recently, he angered many Republicans by airing heavily edited clips of the January 6 riot, in which he described those who stormed the Capitol as tourists.
Steve Bannon said on his podcast show, “Tucker was the mainstay of populist voiceover at Fox.
“The reason to watch Fox, you have Maria (Bartiromo) in the morning, Jesse (Watters), he’s coming, but Tucker is really the reason.
“With this I don’t see any reason to look at the Murdoch Empire.”
donald trump jr. tweeted, “Tucker Carlson out at Fox News. OMG.’
While conservatives mourned him, liberals like The View’s gleefully celebrated the announcement.
Whoopi Goldberg announced the news, before Ana Navarro—one of the panel’s few Republican hosts—led the crowd in a chant of “hey, hey, hey, goodbye!”