What in the World?! Top-Rated Tucker Carlson Suddenly Cut From Fox News
Remember when the Boston Red Sox traded Babe Ruth to the Yankees for a spot off cash? Well, good news, Beantown, you’re off the hook for most perplexing, self-defeating move by an organization.
Fox News announced Monday that it has parted ways with the highest-rated and most influential host in all of cable news, Tucker Carlson. Effective immediately. Done. Gone. Hasta La Vista.
Their statement was curt to the point of baffling:
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.
That’s it?
The shocking announcement has left viewers aghast … and the Fox News stock plummeting.
— A_Ga_Voter (@AGaVoter1) April 24, 2023
Why? Something to Do With Dominion? Ray Epps?
Why is Carlson leaving without even getting a chance to say farewell? What in the world is going on? No firm answers at this hour. However, his departure comes just days after Dan Bongino also left. Bongino insists his parting was no big thing, just a matter of not agreeing on a new contract.
But Carlson signed a massive multi-year deal with Fox News barely two years ago. And he was the foundation of the network’s prime time line-up.
Speculation is centering around last week’s settlement between Fox News and Dominion Election Systems. Fox News agreed to pay Dominion nearly $800 million over stories suggesting Dominions machines were manipulated during the 2020 Election to give Joe Biden the election.
Certainly liberal outlets like CNN, Washington Post and NPR are racing to make the connection. Says NPR, “Fox News fires Tucker Carlson in stunning move a week after $787 million settlement.” However, even NPR points out that Carlson questioned the lack of evidence the Dominion machines had been manipulated or infiltrated.
Was dumping Carlson part of the settlement, as some in the Twitterverse suggest? That would seem both odd and dangerous. Carlson makes Fox News too much money, especially when you consider what his lead-in does for Hannity and Laura Ingraham. And what his Fox Nation shows do for that paid streaming service. Even Brian Stelter noted on Twitter that Fox News is currently pushing for higher carriage fees from distributors. “And without Tucker, Fox has less leverage.” When someone demands the scalp of your Lebron James, you tell them to hit the road. Unless something else is going on.
Interestingly, Tucker’s ouster comes one day after Ray Epps went on 60 Minutes to complain that Carlson was trying to “ruin my life” and was obsessed with him. Epps is the man captured on video both January 5 and January 6 urging protesters and demonstrators to enter the U.S. Capitol. He was initially on the FBI’s most wanted list … yet suddenly was removed. And while people who simply wandered into the Capitol and didn’t instigate anybody are arrested and held without trial, accused of all manner of insurrection, Epps walked free. And suddenly he pops up on CBS News insisting he wasn’t working for the Feds.
What’s our common denominator in the Dominion and Epps stories? Tucker Carlson dared to want to understand the truth about the 2020 Election and the protest sparked by that dubious election.
We know Fox News wants no part of questioning the election, that it wants no part of Donald Trump, that Fox News board member and heavy Paul Ryan is a vehement Never Trumper to the core … as is the son of Rupert Murdock who is set to take over the Fox News empire.
Interestingly, just two weeks ago, Carlson interviewed Donald Trump.
For that matter, he also interviewed Elon Musk, whose take-over of Twitter help exposed just how much Big Tech was conspiring with the Washington Establishment to take out Trump.
For that matter, Carlson has been one of the loudest voices arguing against the Establishment’s war in Ukraine.
If Fox News fired Tucker Carlson it was to protect Establishment, Never Trump interests.
Out After Saying The Battle Now is Between Good and Evil
Curiously, Carlson’s ouster comes just three days after he gave an impassioned speech where he declared the battle is no longer between different policies toward an agreed outcome, but a fight between good and evil.
It’s one thing to make noise about the Ukraine war, but for the top rated cable show host to talk about the spiritual war? That could sure incite the principalities and powers of the air.
Don Lemon Out at CNN Too?
Let’s add another bombshell to the mix. Just after the news that Carlson was out at Fox News, word broke that Don Lemon has been fired by CNN.
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) April 24, 2023
Lemon may have been “stunned,” but he’s the only one. You could see it coming for miles. Lemon had already lost his prime time show, and made a mess of his new gig on CNN’s morning show. It was widely acknowledged that he was a skunk around the studio, making his colleagues miserable. Fine. By why now? Why not when he made those misogynistic comments about Nikki Haley?
Curiously, just the other day, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to be interviewed by Lemon. Last year, Lemon grilled Jean-Pierre on the fitness of Joe Biden to serve another term. As has Tucker Carlson.
DON LEMON: "Does the president has the stamina, physically and mentally, do you think to continue on even after 2024?"
KARINE JEAN-PIERRE: "That is not a question that we should be even asking" pic.twitter.com/dUfQil9qKp
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 14, 2022
Sure, Lemon’s place at CNN had soured. But how convenient that two of cable news’ critics of Biden’s fitness are ousted a day before Biden is set to announce his re-election.
So …. What Now?
Tucker Carlson can write his own ticket. His audience will go wherever he next chooses to set up shop. This situation is not exactly like what happened to Project Veritas when it pushed James O’Keefe out the door, but it smells awfully similar.
However, you have to ask yourself: If you are CNN and your prime time numbers are abysmal and the hottest talent in cable news suddenly is available, don’t you have his agent on the horn by now?
Carlson has made it increasingly clear in recent months that he is sick of corporate media. But with today’s news, you can’t help but wonder if he’d be open to a return to CNN under the right conditions.
An Intriguing Possibility
But let’s take a step further. During his interview with Tucker just a few days ago, Elon Musk said he wanted to make Twitter the “least distrusted source” of news on the internet. Musk is also wanting to expand Twitter’s programming.
Why wouldn’t the two loudest voices for free speech team together? (What if he already made Carlson an offer too good to turn down?) Tucker has built a news organization before. He was co-founder of the Daily Caller, for example. And turning the most influential social media site into a news powerhouse would pose an intriguing challenge.
And it’s not as if Musk couldn’t afford him.
One way or another, this is going to be one news story that’ll be fascinating to watch.
As for Fox News? If they did fire Tucker … after having ticking off so many viewers with their 2020 Election night coverage … they may well be facing their own version of the Curse of the Bambino.
Al Perrotta is the Managing Editor of The Stream, chief barista for The Brew and co-author, with John Zmirak, of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration. You can follow him at @StreamingAl at GETTR, Gab, Parler, and now at TRUTH Social.
