Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has come under fire through the years for his increasingly controversial and often erroneous takes, is leaving the conservative network effective immediately.
Tucker Carlson Tonight is the network's most popular primetime show, which has been on air since November 2016, the same month former President Donald Trump won the presidency against Former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton.
Fox News said in a statement that Carlson's last show was Friday, April 21. The news comes one week after the network settled a major defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million over the network's lies concerning their voting machines and voter fraud, many of which were repeatedly stated by the now former host, though there is evidence revealing he was aware of their incorrect nature.
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"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," said the statement.
They shared no more details, and though a permanent replacement has yet to be revealed, they added: "Fox News Tonight will air live at 8PM ET starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named."
Carlson was a key figure of the now settled lawsuit against Fox News from Dominion over the network's defamatory statements on voter fraud, and he was set to be one of Dominion's first witnesses to testify at trial.
Ahead of the would-be trial, public court filings made public a series of texts from the Fox star, which revealed his disagreement with many of the arguments and stances he himself repeatedly touted on his show, which over the years had seen an increasingly erratic host.
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Among the discrepancies between his personal messages and his public statements were his disdain for former President – and recently indicted – Trump, who he told confidants he "passionately" hated, and whose tenure at the White House he described as a "disaster."
Carlson also came under fire for his defense and amplification of the lies common throughout supporters and participants of the January 6th insurrection at the US Capitol in 2021, which he described as "mostly peaceful chaos" and that "the footage does not show an insurrection or riot in progress." His take was subsequently denounced by GOP Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, and the Capitol Police.
Though he has yet to make a statement of his own, CNN reports that while shares of Fox Corp. (FOXA) "had been up slightly" ahead of the announcement, they fell 5% following the news.
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