Tucker Carlson ‘preparing for war’ with Fox News after ousting
Deposed FOX News host Tucker Carlson is preparing for war against his former network as he plans his next career move, according to a new report.
Carlson, 53, was suddenly fired from the network last month after 14 years with no explanation as to why the company would let their most-watched anchor go.
But Carlson’s contract with FOX News, in which he received $ 20 million a year, does not expire until January 2025 – after the presidential election.
Carlson is still being paid and is therefore not allowed to join a rival network or start his own network. Axios reports.
Deposed FOX News host Tucker Carlson, pictured last July, is said to be “preparing for war” with his former network in a bid to get out of his contract
Carlson, 53, had previously posted a video on his Twitter page in which he vowed to come back
But his attorney Bryan Freedman told Axios, “The idea of anyone silencing Tucker and preventing him from speaking to his audience is beyond ridiculous.”
Friends and sources close to the former FOX News host added that his allies on rival platforms are now preparing to attack the network.
“They come up to him and say, ‘Do you want me to punch FOX?'” an unknown close friend of Carlson’s told the outlet.
“He always said, ‘No, I want to do this quietly and neatly.’
Carlson allegedly met Elon Musk about a collaboration
“Now we go from peacetime to Defcon 1,” the friend said, explaining, “His team is preparing for war. He wants his freedom.’
Another source close to Carlson added that Carlson “knows where many bodies are buried and is ready to start drawing a map.”
They say rival media outlets have become more aggressive in hiring the 53-year-old.
Carlson was reportedly contacted by Rumble and Newsmax, both of whom reportedly agreed to pay him more than he was making at FOX.
He had a conversation with Twitter chief Elon Musk about collaboration, but did not go into details, according to Axios.
Sources close to Carlson say he is also considering setting up a direct-to-consumer media outlet where his millions of fans can pay to watch him.
Carlson made his first public appearance on Thursday since leaving Fox
Carlson and his wife Susan Andrews are pictured for the first time after his resignation since parting ways with Fox at the end of last month
The former FOX News host had previously promised his fans he would be back, in a video he posted to his Twitter page two days after he was fired.
“When honest people say what is true calmly and without embarrassment, they become powerful,” he said in the video.
“At the same time, the liars who have tried to silence them are shrinking and growing weaker,” Carlson continued, ending with, “See you soon.”
He then made his first public appearance on Thursday night, followed by a speech at the Oxford Performing Arts Center in Oxford, Alabama, for the annual Rainbow Omega fundraiser.
“I’m probably the first unemployed person you’ve ever invited to speak,” Carlson joked.
‘It is funny. I never give speeches because I’m at work. When I accepted this speech six months ago or something, I didn’t realize how much free time I would have.
“You never know, do you?”
When asked for comment by DailyMail.com, a spokesperson for FOX News said the network will not comment after its initial April 23 statement, which said, “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.”
Axios reports that Carlson cannot join a rival news organization or start one of his own under his $20 million a year contract with FOX that expires in January 2025 (photo Rupert Murdoch, owner of FOX News, with his sons James and Lachlan in 2016)
After Carlson’s firing from FOX, ratings plummeted as fans of the firebrand host left the network in droves
The decision was made six days after Fox settled with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million.
Since then, a slew of rumors about his firing have emerged. They range from claims about Carlson’s lyrics that emerged in the aftermath of the lawsuit, including some where he claimed he hated Trump.
There were also rumors that Carlson may have been fired over a gender discrimination suit brought by a former female booker of his show.
It has also since emerged that Carlson sent an inflammatory text the day after the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6 — which the Fox News board learned about on the eve of their defamation trial.
The pivotal role of the January 7, 2021 text message was originally reported by The New York Times.
In text to one of his producers, Carlson recalls seeing a mob of three white men attack an “Antifa kid” and wanted the victim killed.
But, Carlson wrote, he realized it was wrong to want the “Antifa boy” to die.
Carlson also argued that white people generally don’t act so dishonorably as to launch a three-on-one attack.
He did not specify the race of the “Antifa boy.”
“At least it was three to one,” Carlson wrote. ‘Puncing on someone like that is, of course, dishonorable. White men don’t fight like that.’
After his firing from Fox News, their ratings plummeted as fans of the firebrand host left the network in droves.