Tucker Carlson Out at Fox News

Fox News has parted ways with primetime anchor Tucker Carlson, effective immediately.

The cable news network made the announcement on Monday morning. The statement reads as follows:

“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 21. 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.” 

There was zero indication of Carlson’s exit as recently as Friday evening, when at the close of what would be his final episode he said to viewers a typical, “We’ll be back on Monday.” In fact, as of this morning there were still promos running for Carlson’s planned interview with Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. (Watch Fox News announce Carlson’s exit on air.)

Carlson’s exit comes in the wake of Fox News Channel reaching a settlement in a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems, just as their much-publicized trial was about to get underway. Dominion claimed it was owed damages resulting from Fox News’ airing of false claims about its role in the 2020 election. In the past few months, emails and texts gathered for the trial from Fox executives and anchors — Carlson and Sean Hannity included — hinted that people working at the company knowingly put forth false information about the election and Dominion’s involvement in it.

Justin Nelson, an attorney representing Dominion, said the case was settled for $787.5 million.

In a statement released after the settlement was reached, Fox said: “We are pleased to have reached a settlement of our dispute with Dominion Voting Systems. We acknowledge the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false. This settlement reflects Fox’s continued commitment to the highest journalistic standards. We are hopeful that our decision to resolve this dispute with Dominion amicably, instead of the acrimony of a divisive trial, allows the country to move forward from these issues.”

Carlson began his Fox News tenure as a political analyst in 2009, appearing on various programs before the launch of Tucker Carlson Tonight in 2016. Prior to that, he worked at CNN from 2000 to 2005, where he served as cohost of the debate-style program Crossfire, before making the leap to MSNBC, where he hosted the primetime program Tucker from 2005 to 2008.

In other cable news, CNN on Monday terminated Don Lemon after 17 years. For more on that, go here.

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