TheQuartering [4/24/2023]
TV host Tucker Carlson and Fox News have “agreed to part ways,” Fox said in a statement Monday.
“We thank him for his service to the network,” Fox said in the statement about the top-rated host, which noted that Carlson’s last show was on Friday.
The network did not provide a reason for Carlson’s departure.
In addition, the senior executive producer of Tucker Carlson Tonight, Justin Wells, was let go Monday, multiple sources told ABC News.
The decision to terminate Carlson and his producer was made this past Friday night by Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch and Fox News President Suzanne Scott, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Wells declined to comment to ABC News. A spokesperson for Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The news comes nearly one week after a $787.5 million settlement agreement between the network and Dominion Voting Systems, which had accused Fox of knowingly pushing false conspiracy theories that the voting machine company rigged the 2020 presidential election in Joe Biden’s favor, in what Dominion claims was an effort to combat concerns over declining ratings and viewer retention.
Fox defended its coverage, dismissing the suit as a “political crusade in search of a financial windfall.”
A Dominion spokesperson declined to comment on Carlson’s departure when contacted by ABC News.
As part of its discovery process, Dominion in February filed court documents containing emails, texts, testimony, and other private communications from Fox News personnel, including Carlson, in which they appeared to cast doubt on claims involving Dominion — versus what they said on-air to their viewers.
On Nov. 8, Carlson privately texted his producer that the allegations about Dominion were “absurd,” according to the Dominion filing. Also that day, Carlson’s producer texted him about his own doubts.
“I don’t think there is evidence of voter fraud that swung the election,” producer Alex Pfeiffer texted to Carlson, per the lawsuit. “The software s–t is absurd,” Carlson allegedly responded.
On his show just one night later, Carlson pushed more suggestions of fraud, though he said that “we don’t know anything about the software.”
“We don’t know how many votes were stolen on Tuesday night. We don’t know anything about the software that many say was rigged. We don’t know. We ought to find out,” he said. “But here’s what we do know. On a larger level, at the highest levels, actually, our system isn’t what we thought it was. It’s not as fair as it should be. Not even close.”