In news that literally came out of nowhere, Fox News announced Monday morning that they and popular prime-time host Tucker Carlson have “agreed to part ways”:
FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.
Mr. Carlson’s last program was Friday April 21st. Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 PM/ET starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named.
🚨#BREAKING: @FoxNews said it and @TuckerCarlson "have agreed to part ways."
—"We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor." pic.twitter.com/joko0ZegAC— Sara Fischer (@sarafischer) April 24, 2023
Though no reason was given, CNBC noted that “The announcement came days after Fox News’ parent company settled Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million.”
While it’s unclear where Tucker Carlson will land from here, the sky will be the limit for him as he was unquestionably Fox News’ biggest draw, routinely dominating the ratings wars and driving the discussion while triggering the Usual Suspects on a near-daily basis.
This is a huge loss for Fox News.
In the below clip from the Friday show, Carlson talked about being back “on Monday,” so clearly the “parting of ways” developed quickly over the weekend:
Here was the end of what turned out to be Tucker Carlson's final Fox News show last Friday. Certainly no indication that he didn't expect to be on the air tonight. In fact Tucker's final words are, "we'll be back on Monday." pic.twitter.com/F9R5MpWHDK
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 24, 2023
Naturally, CNN’s left-wing “media reporter” Oliver Darcy is celebrating by portraying Carlson as an “anti-immigrant” … “conspiracy theorist”:
#Breaking Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News, there will not be a send off show.
CNN of course is thrilled. pic.twitter.com/NTbwEWsD6v
— NewsBusters (@newsbusters) April 24, 2023
Conservative commentators, meanwhile, are also pointing out how this is not good for Fox News:
BREAKING: Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News. This is the biggest mistake Fox has ever made. I don’t know the reason for the exit but the timing couldn’t be worse for Fox. pic.twitter.com/c04unaFcwT
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) April 24, 2023
Harris Faulkner reported on the news as well, reading Fox News’ statement on-air:
Fox News has @HarrisFaulkner make the announcement to viewers at 11:45 a.m. Eastern on The @FaulknerFocus (so 18 minutes after the statement went life) that #Tucker was OUT at the network.
She read the statement in full, adding at the onset "News from within our Fox family." pic.twitter.com/iJMpSSjXkE
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 24, 2023
And giving us something to laugh at was fired former CNN “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter, who for some reason thinks he’s someone Carlson would have wanted to talk to this morning about the situation:
There will of course be a lot of reporting and facts that at some point are made public about what happened that caused the Fox-Tucker split, but – for now – the fact that Brian Stelter really seems to think that Tucker would speak about it to a fired-from-CNN liberal is funny: https://t.co/OQ66Oyoyvb
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 24, 2023
RealClearNews White House reporter Philip Wegmann tweeted that, “The Tucker Carlson news isn’t just a media story. It significantly changes the GOP 2024 primary overnight.”
The news of Carlson’s departure follows the announcement last Thursday that “Unfiltered” host Dan Bongino and Fox News couldn’t reach an agreement on new contract terms, also leading to a parting of ways.
