Tucker Carlson news – live: Fired Fox News host’s sexist comments about fans revealed as Newsmax ratings climb

Alex Woodward and Gustaf Kilander

Tucker Carlson’s sexist comments about fans have come to light after he was fired from Fox News this week.

The right-wing host was caught on video making inappropriate comments about women and his “postmenopausal fans”, according to The New York Times.

In one video, Carlson is heard off-camera talking about whether his “postmenopausal fans” would like how he looks on his primetime show while in a second he refers to a woman as “yummy”.

This comes amid reports that the discovery of offensive and crude text messages sent by Carlson played a key factor in his sudden ousting.

Meanwhile, former producer Abby Grossberg’s lawsuit – alleging Carlson’s “derogatory comments towards women” and “misogyny” – is also said to have contributed to a “crisis” at the network.

However, Fox News’ ratings have plunged since Carlson’s exit while smaller right-wing rival network Newsmax has seen a spike in primetime viewers.

The ratings come as Carlson broke his silence in a Twitter video on Wednesday night, making thinly veiled jabs at his former employer as well as media reports outlining the likely motivations behind his exit.

Key Points

The Murdoch children theory

21:30 , Graig Graziosi

In a theory that could easily serve as a story arc on HBO’s Succession, Carlson reportedly believes he was removed from the network because Mr Murdoch’s children are planning to sell the company, according to Vanity Fair.

It’s no secret that Carlson is divisive to advertisers. He is frequently dogged with claims that he is misogynist, transphobic, racist, and offers up apologetic defenses of nefarious actors like the Capitol riot defendants and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Advertisers stopped buying airtime on Fox News in 2018 after Carlson said immigration makes the US “dirtier,” and periodic calls for advertiser boycotts by the public have caused his sponsors to dwindle since.

“The show has almost no big-name advertisers left right now,” Kara Alaimo, a public-relations expert who teaches at Hofstra University, told the New York Times in 2020. “This is just not an issue you want to be on the wrong side of, if you’re a mainstream brand.”

Under Carlson’s theory, if the Murdoch children want to sell Fox News for the maximum possible profit, the brand needs to become less toxic to big name advertisers. That means he needed to go.

There is currently no public indication that the Murdoch children plan to sell the company.

21:00 , Graig Graziosi

Further complicating Carlson’s role as Fox News’ top anchor were texts revealing that he secretly loathed Donald Trump, and looked forward to a time when the network could ignore the former president.

A section of redacted texts exists that could contain more — and more damning — comments from Carlson. Those texts are only known to Fox News, Dominion’s lawyers, and the individuals who sent the messages, according to Vanity Fair. It is unclear — and may never be clear — if those messages played any part in Carlson’s downfall.

Both of those explanations suggest that Carlson dug his own grave with Fox News. He has his own theory about why he was axed — one which leaves him less culpable — that suggests Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch‘s children want to sanitize the network for prepare it for a sale once their father passes.

Carlson's criticisms of Fox News leadership

20:30 , Graig Graziosi

Another leading theory is that Carlson was dropped in the wake of the Dominion lawsuit due to his sharp criticism of Fox News’ leadership. Those comments were made public by reporters who obtained court filings related to Dominion’s lawsuit.

A person familiar with the company’s rationale told The Washington Post that higher-ups at Fox News did not take his comments lightly, and that they “played a role” in his firing.

“Do the executives understand how much credibility and trust we’ve lost with our audience?” Carlson wrote in a message the day after Fox News called the 2020 election for Joe Biden.

He later said “those f****** are destroying our credibility,” and complained that there was a “combination of incompetent liberals and top leadership with too much pride to back down” causing problems at the network.

He weirded out Rupert Murdoch with religious rhetoric

20:00 , Graig Graziosi

Carlson often blended nationalism, white supremacist conspiracy theories, and conservative Christian persecution paranoia into a turgid slurry of fear-mongering and hate, and he did so again during the Heritage Foundation’s 50th Anniversary gala on Friday.

He may have gone too far.

A source claiming familiarity with Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch’s decision to can Carlson told Vanity Fair that the religious nature of the anchor’s comments made the boss-man uncomfortable and prompted the firing.

Carlson spoke in absolutist terms, about good and evil, and suggested that individuals who support trans existence are simply incapable of being reasoned with. He told the crowd to pray for them.

He also likened abortions to child sacrafice.

“That stuff freaks Rupert out. He doesn’t like all the spiritual talk,” the source told the publication.

Mr Murdoch reportedly was similarly freaked out after his now-ex fiance whipped out a Bible during a dinner party and began reading passages out loud from the Book of Exodus, according to Vanity Fair.

The source theorised that Carlson’ eschatological musings reminded Mr Murdoch of the incident and left him feeling uneasy about keeping the anchor on the air.

19:30 , Graig Graziosi

The filing by Abby Grossberg includes examples of the alleged misconduct, like producer Justin Wells asking her if then-Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo — who Ms Grossberg formerly worked for — has slept with House Majority Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

She said that people in Carlson’s shop made crude comments about women politicians’ looks and theorised on which had slept their way into their positions in government.

Ms Grossberg also said her direct supervisor, Alex McCaskill, mocked an Israeli colleague for taking off for Jewish holidays. He further suggested the colleague’s visit to a “Jew bakery” was for him “to see his people.”

Further building the case of rampant misogyny in Carlson’s orbit are allegations that the anchor — allegations he seemingly confirmed during a deposition with Dominion’s lawyers — that he frequently called MAGA conspiracy theorist and infamous “kraken” lawyer Sidney Powell a “c***”, according to The Daily Beast.

What’s most compelling about this theory is that Mr Wells — who is a prominent figure in Ms Grossberg’s lawsuit — was fired alongside Carlson on Monday.

Grossberg lawsuits

19:00 , Graig Graziosi

The most likely theory is one that lays the blame squarely on Carlson’s shoulders — accusations of rampant misogyny in the workplace finally caught up to him.

The seeds of Carlson’s demise at the network may have been planted in a lawsuit; not the Fox-Dominion lawsuit, which cost the network $787.7m to settle, but in lesser-known litigation brought by a former producer.

Abby Grossberg, who formerly worked on Carlson’s show, sued Fox News, alleging that Carlson and his producer, Justin Wells, had displayed rampant misogyny and anti-Semitism in the workplace.

Ms Grossberg claims in a federal court filing that Carlson’s show “subjugates women based on vile sexist stereotypes” and that it “typecasts” religious minorities and “belittles their traditions.”

What the Tucker Carlson Dominion texts said about Trump

18:30 , Joe Sommerlad

Fox News star host Tucker Carlson has left the popular right-wing cable news network. Fox announced Carlson’s shock departure in a brief statement on Monday 24 April, saying both sides had “agreed to part ways”.

While the exact reason for Carlson’s departure is not yet clear, he had been under fire from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers after airing selectively edited video excerpts from 41,000-hours of surveillance footage from the Capitol riot, handed to him by House speaker Kevin McCarthy, in an attempt to cast doubt on the established narrative.

And Carlson’s name had cropped up in court filings by Dominion Voting Systems, the company that launched a massive defamation suit against Fox News over the network’s coverage of the 2020 presidential election and Mr Trump’s bogus claims that the contest was “rigged”. Less than a week ago, Fox settled with Dominion for an eye-popping $787m. Now Carlson himself is out at the network.

Read more:

What the Tucker Carlson Dominion texts said about Trump

Trump says ‘it’s a shame’ what happened to Tucker Carlson: ‘He was telling the truth’

18:00 , Gustaf Kilander

The former president appeared on his oldest son’s programme Triggered, saying that “it’s a shame what happened to Tucker Carlson” and that the fired Fox host was willing to tell “the truth”.

Donald Trump blasted the $787.5m settlement between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems following the voting machine company’s lawsuit against the network for its repeated broadcasts including lies about the election and Dominion’s role in it.

Read more:

Trump says ‘it’s a shame’ what happened to Tucker Carlson: ‘He was telling the truth’

Why was Tucker Carlson fired from Fox News?

17:30 , Graig Graziosi

Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News.

After the dueling choruses of doomsayers and giddy celebrants died down on Monday (24 April), the question of why Carlson was reportedly fired still lingered.

While there is no definitive answer to that question at the moment, there are a few contenders that – in part or in full – may explain why the conservative cable news network axed its biggest star without giving him so much as a goodbye tweet.

But first, the context.

Fox News announced it was “parting ways” with Carlson in a statement on Monday morning.

The statement confirmed that Carlson’s last show occurred the preceding Friday, which ended with him eating pizza with Pennsylvanian delivery man Tyler Morrell, who was honoured after he helped police stop a suspected car thief.

At the end of the segment, Carlson told his viewers he would see them again next week.

Read more:

Why did Fox News fire Tucker Carlson? Here are five theories

Newsmax seeks a spike in primetime viewers. Fox is losing them

16:55 , Alex Woodward

Newsmax pulls far below the millions of viewers on its primetime programming that are drawn to Fox News and other major cable networks, but the network has seen a spike in viewers after its rival Fox News fired its far-right star Tucker Carlson on Monday.

That night, at the 8pm slot when Carlson’s programme would typically air, the network drew roughly 530,000 viewers – roughly five times the number of people who watched one week earlier. The next day in the same primetime slot, the network grew to 562,000 viewers.

Fox, meanwhile, has seen dwindling numbers at the 8pm slot that formerly held Tucker Carlson Tonight but now runs the interim Fox News Tonight.

Roughly 2.65 million people watched what would be his final episode last Friday. On Monday, the number dropped to 2.59, then 1.7 on Tuesday, then 1.3 on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, over on MSNBC, All In with Chris Hayes saw some huge rating gains.

Trump reacts to Tucker Carlson’s exit from Fox News

16:48 , Alex Woodward

In an appearance on his oldest son’s programme, Donald Trump railed against Fox News’ settlement with Dominion after the company sued the network for repeatedly amplifying his election lies.

“They need a new law firm,” he said, calling the Dominion case “the craziest case I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s a shame what happened to Tucker Carlspon. He had the number one show. He was doing great. His show was very interesting, and he was out there in the sense that he was telling the truth,” he said.

He claimed other networks are “lying and they’re hiding and they’re afraid to talk.”

“I think losing Tucker, having Tucker not be there, is gonna have a big impact and a negative impact on Fox,” he said.

Fox rivals try to court Tucker Carlson’s audience

15:30 , Alex Woodward

From fawning coverage on Newsmax to an open invitation from One America News for the fired Fox News host to join the network, far-right media is trying to capture Tucker Carlson’s audience and characterising Fox as “woke” while Fox viewers are apparently boycotting the network.

Across far-right social media and messages boards, users are calling to “cancel” Fox and spreading conspiracy theories about the inside of the company that led to his firing.

Rudy Giuliani defends Carlson in lie-filled segment blaming ‘deep state cabal’ for his firing

15:00 , Alex Woodward

Rudy Giuliani was allowed to spread false claims and bogus conspiracy theories about Tucker Carlson and January 6 during his Thursday night appearance on Newsmax in the 8pm primetime slot.

He downplayed the attack on the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election as “the fiction of an American insurrection” and falsely stated that “nobody” died in the attack fuelled by Donald Trump’s lies.

Four people in the crowd of rioters died, and five law enforcement officers died in the aftermath: one the next day after suffering strokes, and four by suicide.

He also falsely claimed that there wasn’t a “single gun” and not “a single person being charged with insurrection after four hundred charges.

Chris Alberts told a jury he was armed with 25 rounds of ammunition. Guy Reffitt, another convicted rioter, was armed with a handgun. Roughly 10 people have been convicted of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the attack.

“It wasn’t even so much that Tucker was that much for Trump. He had become that way. Really, he was laying out the circumstances that show how incredibly crooked they are,” Giuliani said.

Why are other Fox figures in the Dominion suit still working there?

14:20 , Alex Woodward

Good morning in America.

Speculation about the future of other Fox stars has been growing among pundits and media reporters in the aftermath of the Dominion Voting Systems settlement in Delaward last week

If litigation played a role in Tucker Carlson’s exit from Fox News, The Daily Beast asks how other figures who were central to the Dominion case have avoided similar fates.

Former Fox host Megyn Kelly said on her podcast that Carlson’s firing is “a massive misjudgment of what their audience wants.”

“If … this is a reaction to the Dominion lawsuit, why is Maria Bartiromo there? Why is Jeanine Pirro still there? Why is Suzanne Scott still there?” she said.

Bartiromo and Pirro were key boosters of false claims about Dominion in the 2020 election; filings in the case showed that Pirro planned an opening monologue full of baseless statements about the company, called “rife with conspiracy theories and BS” and “another example why this woman should never be on live television” by a Fox producer.

Fox also removed Pirro from airwaves after the election because leadership did not believe she could be honest about the outcome, according to Dominion.

(REUTERS)
(REUTERS)

ICYMI: Rupert Murdoch was reportedly disturbed by Carlson’s segments on Ukraine

14:00 , Alex Woodward

Rupert Murdoch had reportedly grown frustrated with Tucker Carlson’s increasingly far-right agenda, including segments that sought to undermine Ukraine while it was under attack from Russian forces.

A graphic during one segment referred to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky as a “Ukrainian pimp,” which disturbed the Fox Corp chief, according to The Washington Post.

After one segment last month, Murdoch joined a Fox newsroom meeting to loudly challenge Carlson’s message, The Post reported.

It still remains unclear why exactly Carlson was fired from the network, a decision that also caught him by surprise. The Post also confirms reporting that Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott called Carlson on Monday morning, adding that she said the move came “from above,” meaning Rupert or his son Lachlan Murdoch.

Ms Scott and Lachlan Murdoch made the decision on Friday evening, three days after the bombshell settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, The Post reports. Lachlan Murdoch spoke to his father about it on Saturday, the newspaper added.

Rudy Giuliani claims he wasn’t surprised by Tucker Carlson’s firing in conspiracy-laden Newsmax interview

13:40 , Rachel Sharp

Rudy Giuliani claimed he wasn’t surprised by Tucker Carlson’s firing in a conspiracy-laden interview with Newsmax.

The former New York City mayor and 2020 election denier appeared on the right-wing network on Thursday night to say he had been “expecting” Fox News to axe its biggest star.

“I was still shocked by it because he’s had, like about a year or two ... of what I would consider historic and inspired journalism,” he said.

“We have a lot of great journalists on our side, and it takes a lot of guts to be on our side.

“To be on the other side, I don’t know. You’ve got all the cocktail parties, and they drink so much, they probably don’t even know what they’re doing.”

Mr Giuliani, who was a familiar face on Fox News when the platform pushed election conspiracies to its viewers, launched into yet more lies about the January 6 Capitol riot.

He claimed that “nobody died” during the riot – an outright falsehood as at least five deaths occurred that day and in the immediate aftermath.

He also falsely claimed that none of Mr Trump’s supporters were armed – something that video and photo evidence can easily disprove.

James Corden jokes he’ll be on Dancing with the Stars with fired Tucker Carlson: ‘Doing the cha-cha’

13:20 , Rachel Sharp

James Corden joked that he’d be appearing on Dancing with the Stars with Tucker Carlson as his tenure on The Late Late Show comes to an end.

Corden’s final episode aired Friday (28 April), the same week that the Fox News host was fired by the broadcaster.

In a Carpool Karaoke special airing hours before Corden’s final Late Late Show, the host spoke about his feelings coming into Television City – CBS’s studio lot in Los Angeles – for the last time.

Read more here:

James Corden jokes he’ll be on Dancing with the Stars with Tucker Carlson

ICYMI: Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon turn to high-profile Hollywood attorney

13:00 , Alex Woodward

Shortly after they both lost their jobs at their respective networks, Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon turned to prominent Hollywood attorney Bryan Freedman.

The high-profile entertainment lawyer has represented clients including Mariah Carey, Julia Roberts and Quentin Tarantino, as well as the estate of Michael Jackson in a $100m legal battle over the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland.

He also represented ousted Jeopardy! producer Mike Richards and Chris Harrison of The Bachelor.

The Independent has requested comment from Mr Freedman.

Fox ratings plunge while Newsmax sees spike after Carlson firing

12:40 , Rachel Sharp

Hundreds of thousands of Fox News viewers are reacting to Tucker Carlson‘s firing by abandoning the network in his old time slot — at least temporarily.

Fox drew 1.33 million viewers for substitute host Brian Kilmeade in the 8 p.m. Eastern hour on Wednesday night, putting the network second to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes in a competition Carlson used to dominate, the Nielsen company said.

That’s down 56% from the 3.05 million viewers Carlson reached last Wednesday, Nielsen said. For all of 2022, Carlson averaged 3.03 million viewers, second only to Fox’s “The Five” as the most popular program on cable television.

Carlson offered his own alternative to Kilmeade on Wednesday, posting a two-minute monologue on Twitter at 8 p.m. By Thursday afternoon, that video had been viewed 62.7 million times, according to Twitter.

Kilmeade had 1.7 million viewers on Tuesday and 2.59 million on Monday, when he told people who hadn’t already heard the news that Carlson would no longer be there.

Carlson had 2.65 million viewers on Friday for what he didn’t know at the time would be his last show on Fox. He was fired on Monday with no explanation given publicly, although there are no shortage of theories — including a former employee’s lawsuit that cited a toxic work atmosphere at his show, offensive statements by Carlson that came out as part of the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit against Fox and his embrace of political conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The ratings slump echoes what happened at Fox following the 2020 election, when many viewers angered by the network’s crucial election night declaration that Joe Biden had won Arizona followed then-President Donald Trump’s advice to seek alternatives. That caused tremendous angst behind the scenes at Fox, which was illustrated in documents released as part of the Dominion case.

Asked for comment, Fox responded with a statement noting that Fox has been cable news’ most-watched network for 21 years with its team “trusted more by viewers than any other news source.”

In the wake of Carlson’s firing, viewing at the conservative network Newsmax has shot up for Eric Bolling, who hosts a show in the same 8pm ET slot.

For example, Bolling had 510,000 viewers Wednesday night, compared to 168,000 on Wednesday a week ago, Nielsen said. On Tuesday, Bolling had 562,000 viewers, up from 122,000 the same day a week earlier.

The challenge for Newsmax will be making it last. Fox surged again following Biden’s inauguration as president, and Newsmax couldn’t keep up the momentum.

WATCH: Fox News’ host lashes out when guest calls her ‘far right'

12:20 , Rachel Sharp

Tucker Carlson’s last week at Fox ended with a pizza and a documentary about eating bugs

12:00 , Alex Woodward

What ended up being Tucker Carlson’s final week on the network relied on familiar themes from a nightly lineup that has grown increasingly more extreme in recent years, tilting at far-right fringe conspiracy theories, racism and anti-trans attacks.

In what were his programme’s final moments, framed by several pizza boxes across his desk while holding a slice, he promoted Let Them Eat Bugs, a special described as an investigation into “environmentalists pushing people to eat bugs.”

From the Dominion trial to his last broadcast and a phone call from the network’s CEO, here’s a look at Carlson’s final week at Fox:

Tucker Carlson’s final days at Fox: Dominion bombshells, Elon Musk and eating bugs

Tucker Carlson was caught on video commenting about ‘postmenopausal fans’ before firing

11:40 , Rachel Sharp

Tucker Carlson was caught on video making inappropriate comments about women and his “postmenopausal fans” before he was fired from Fox News, according to a report.

In the video, obtained by The New York Times, Carlson is heard off-camera talking about whether his “postmenopausal fans” would like how he looks on his primetime show.

In a second video, Carlson is said to be heard referring to a woman as “yummy”.

The video has come to light as multiple reports have cited the discovery of offensive and crude text messages sent by Carlson as a key factor in his sudden ousting.

Fox News agrees to hand over more documents to Smartmatic case

11:20 , Rachel Sharp

Fox News agreed Wednesday to hand over thousands of documents to voting machine company Smartmatic, which is suing the network for defamation in a case similar to Dominion Voting Machines’ just-settled lawsuit.

Smartmatic says Fox bears financial responsibility for airing false allegations that the company rigged the 2020 presidential election against former President Donald Trump.

Last week, Fox agreed to pay Dominion nearly $800m to avert a trial, although the ultimate cost to the media company is likely to be much lower.

Smartmatic wants a $2.7bn judgment, which far exceeds the $1.6bn Dominion sought in its suit. No date has been set, and the case might not go to court for a couple of years.

Smartmatic said in court filings that Fox “slow-rolled its production” of transcripts and other material that were created during the Dominion suit, and that Smartmatic had received just a small fraction of the more than 52,000 documents it requested as part of the discovery process.

Among the documents Smartmatic hopes will bolster its case are deposition transcripts for Fox founder Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch, as well as documents related to company executive Raj Shah and lawyer Viet Dinh.

In a statement, Fox News said it was ready to defend itself in “this case surrounding extremely newsworthy events.”

Tucker Carlson’s comeback video gets more views than his primetime Fox News show did

11:00 , Alex Woodward

Tucker Carlson broke his silence over his exit from Fox News in a defiant and conspiracy-laced video he posted to Twitter on Wednesday evening at 8pm, his former primetime slot on the channel.

The video had more than 1.8 million views in the hour after its release. By the following afternoon, the video had been directly watched by 17.3 million users, and seen on the timelines of 57.8 million others.

Tucker Carlson’s comeback video gets more views than his primetime Fox News show did

Redacted messages and damaging lawsuits spark ‘crisis’ at Fox News

10:30 , Namita Singh

Overlapping accounts across multiple news outlets and a lawsuit from a former producer allege a wider picture of dysfunction at the network leading to the far-right star’s exit, Alex Woodward reports.

Tucker Carlson’s private messages and a damaging lawsuit spark ‘crisis’ at Fox News

Tucker Carlson was caught making inappropriate comments about ‘postmenopausal fans’

10:00 , Alex Woodward

Prior to the Dominion Voting Systems settlement, Tucker Carlson was reportedly caught off camera talking about how his older female “fans” would like how he looked on his prime-time show.

In another video, he was reportedly heard talking about how he found a woman “yummy.”

Tucker Carlson was caught making inappropriate comments about ‘postmenopausal fans’

James Corden jokes he’ll be on Dancing with the Stars with Carlson

09:30 , Namita Singh

James Corden joked that he’d be appearing on Dancing with the Stars with Tucker Carlson as his tenure on The Late Late Show comes to an end tonight.

In a Carpool Karaoke special airing hours before Corden’s final Late Late Show, the host spoke about his feelings coming into Television City – CBS’s studio lot in Los Angeles – for the last time.

Read this report to find out what he said:

James Corden jokes he’ll be on Dancing with the Stars with Tucker Carlson

A former Fox producer’s lawsuit claims to shed light on Tucker Carlson’s toxic workplace

09:00 , Alex Woodward

Abby Grossberg’s lawsuit – which is filed against Tucker Carlson, among others – alleges that Carlson’s “derogatory comments towards women, and his disdain for those who dare to object to such misogyny, is well known” on the set of his Tucker Carlson Tonight.

He comalaint filed in US District Court last month argues that her allegations join a pattern of abuse and gender-based retaliation at the company, with more than 10 pages outlining a legacy of “vivid examples of blatant sexual harassment and gender discrimination” from at least 2004.

The lawsuit’s claims are echoed in recent documents and several media outlets reporting offensive statements made by the Fox star before he was fired.

Tucker Carlson’s private messages and a damaging lawsuit spark ‘crisis’ at Fox News

The real reason Tucker Carlson should have been fired

08:30 , Namita Singh

Lies over the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election appear to be what finally finished off Tucker Carlson at Fox News. But the TV showman was an equal opportunist when it came to disinformation.

“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,” read a network statement.

Carlson reportedly found out on Monday morning that he would be replaced in his primetime slot that night.

Louise Boyle reports:

The real reason Tucker Carlson should have been fired

One of the most prolific disseminators of misinformation on the climate crisis in recent memory.

08:00 , Alex Woodward

Tucker Carlson Tonight provided a regular dose of fossil-fuel industry talking points, conspiracy theories and monologues interwoven with racist, misogynistic, xenophobic and homophobic material.

He claimed that the “existence of winter disproves the science of climate change”; called climate science a “state religion”; said scientists and activists “bully” people like him and “hate the Earth... hate nature.”

His Fox programming will be remembered as one of the most prolific disseminators of misinformation on the climate crisis in recent memory.

The real reason Tucker Carlson should have been fired

Carlson’s comeback video gets more views than his primetime Fox News show

07:30 , Namita Singh

Tucker Carlson’s first Twitter video since his Fox News firing took only an hour to surpass the ratings of his old prime-time slot on Fox News.

Rupert Murdoch’s news network parted company with the right-wing TV host on Monday, days after Fox News agreed to pay $787.5m to Dominion Voting Systems to settle a defamation lawsuit over election lies amplified by the channel’s personalities.

Carlson broke his silence over his exit from Fox News in a defiant and conspiracy-laced video he posted to Twitter on Wednesday evening at 8pm, his former primetime slot on the channel.

Graeme Massie has more:

Tucker Carlson’s comeback video gets more views than his primetime Fox News show did

Gretchen Carlson: Fox News needs to ‘clean house completely’ to see real change

07:00 , Alex Woodward

Gretchen Carlson – who sued former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes in 2016 following sexual harassment allegations – wrote a column for The Daily Beast questioning whether the changes made at the network in the aftermath of the massive settlement with Dominion Voting Systems will be meaningful.

“Since my case was resolved, Fox has repeatedly said that it has moved on from its toxic culture. I don’t know if that’s true or not. But we do know that since the Ailes years, Fox management and talent have continued to spin a web of lies to deceive viewers and confuse American voters, all harmful to the country,” she wrote.

She told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Wednesday night that the network needs to “clean house completely” to commit to any significant change.

“If Fox really wants to have a genuine recommitment to journalism, albeit with a conservative point of view – but at least truths – then they really have to clean house completely,” she said.

“When you get rid of a Bill O’Reilly, you put a Tucker Carlson in there and they get even higher ratings,” she added. “They have a business decision to make. I think there’s been a complete shift in the old Fox and the Fox of the last five to seven years.”

Hayes disputed that, but Carlson added that the network has become a “rudderless ship”.

Why was Tucker Carlson fired from Fox News?

06:30 , Namita Singh

Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News.

After the dueling choruses of doomsayers and giddy celebrants died down on Monday (24 April), the question of why Carlson was reportedly fired still lingered.

While there is no definitive answer to that question at the moment, there are a few contenders that – in part or in full – may explain why the conservative cable news network axed its biggest star without giving him so much as a goodbye tweet. Graig Graziosi reports:

Why did Fox News fire Tucker Carlson? Here are five theories

Tucker Carlson was caught making inappropriate comments about ‘postmenopausal fans’

06:00 , Namita Singh

Tucker Carlson was caught on video making inappropriate comments about his “postmenopausal fans” before he was fired by Fox News, according to a report.

Rupert Murdoch’s news network parted company with the right-wing TV host on Monday, days after Fox News agreed to pay $787.5m to Dominion Voting Systems to settle a defamation lawsuit over election lies amplified by the channel’s personalities.

Prior to the settlement, Mr Carlson was caught off camera talking about how his older female “fans” would like how he looked on his prime-time show, reported The New York Times.

In another video, the Times reported, the host was heard talking about how he found a woman “yummy.”

Report:

Tucker Carlson was caught making inappropriate comments about ‘postmenopausal fans’

Tucker Carlson gets a job offer... from Russian state media

05:00 , Alex Woodward

It didn’t take long for Tucker Carlson to land a job offer after losing his primetime slot on the most-watched cable news network in the country.

Within hours after Fox News announced that the network agreed to “part ways” with the far-right nationalist pundit on Monday morning, Russian state media personalities and propaganda outlets opened their doors.

Russian state-owned media offers Tucker Carlson a job

Fox ratings tumble in Tucker Carlson slot

04:13 , Namita Singh

Hundreds of thousands of Fox News viewers are reacting to Tucker Carlson‘s firing by abandoning the network in his old time slot – at least temporarily.

Fox drew 1.33 million viewers for substitute host Brian Kilmeade in the 8pm on Wednesday night, putting the network second to MSNBC’s Chris Hayes in a competition Carlson used to dominate, the Nielsen company said.

That’s down 56 per cent from the 3.05 million viewers Carlson reached last Wednesday, Nielsen said.

More in this report:

Fox ratings tumble in Tucker Carlson slot after his firing

The unstoppable rise and sudden downfall of Tucker Carlson

03:00 , Alex Woodward

The Independent’s Josh Marcus charts the rise and fall of Tucker Carlson Tonight, a primetime juggernaut that endured advertiser boycotts, repeated demands for the host’s resignation, and a view, as The New York Times put it, that his programme “may be the most racist show in the history of cable news,” all while amassing a nightly audience of 3.5 milion viewers.

The unstoppable rise and sudden downfall of Tucker Carlson

Online far-right laments or brushes off Tucker Carlson’s exit

01:00 , Alex Woodward

On his Telegram, white nationalist Nick Fuentes has brushed off the idea that Tucker Carlson was an effective pipeline to his neo-fascist white supremacist ideology.

But the fringe far-right message boards like 4chan that have often served as pipelines to Carlson’s programme are missing a platform for their conspiracy theories and extremism.

“Once a story reached Tucker Carlson, it was at the apex of conservative media, and Fox News is the voice of authority in conservative media,” Robert Faris, a senior researcher at Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy, told NBC News.

“It let other people know that it’s OK to talk about these kinds of things in the language that they use. Just that it’s on the air, it’s ambient and it’s on in so many public spaces means that anything they platform has a wider reach than any of the more committed hyper-partisan sites,” he added.

Meanwhile, other far-right figures like Steve Bannon, Charlie Kirk and Jack Posobiec, who amplified the bogus Pizzagate conspiracy that helped launch QAnon, have also lamented Carlson’s departure from Fox News.

“How does Fox stand up against Cancel Culture now after we all just saw them cancel Tucker? Curious,” Posobiec said on Truth Social on Wednesday. He also said this week that Carlson was fired for telling “too much truth”.

Ex-Fox News producer says Tucker Carlson made her life ‘a living hell’

Friday 28 April 2023 00:00 , Alex Woodward

Abby Grossberg, the former Fox News producer who is suing the network, said Tuesday that Tucker Carlson and his executive producer were responsible making her life a “living hell” when she worked for them.

Ms Grossberg, who was fired by Fox shortly after filing a pair of lawsuits against the network earlier this year, said during an appearance on MSNBC that Carlson’s sudden termination by Fox on Monday left her with mixed emotions.

“There were feelings first of ‘Yes!’ and then also the reality that you don’t want anything bad to happen to anybody,” Ms Grossberg said. “But at the same time, Tucker and his executive producer, Justin Wells, who was also fired, really were responsible for breaking me and making my life a living hell. So there is a feeling of justice, but it’s only partial.”

Fired Fox producer says Tucker Carlson made her life ‘a living hell’

So why was Tucker Carlson fired?

Thursday 27 April 2023 23:00 , Alex Woodward

Was Rupert Murdoch troubled by Tucker Carlson’s embrace of white supremacist conspiracy theories and conservative Christian evangelism? Or was it his comments about Fox leadership? Or the allegations in Abby Grossberg’s lawsuit and litigation threats from Ray Epps? Unnamed sources across several outlets have painted a complicated picture of Carlson’s standing at Fox News that possibly led to his departure from the network.

Why did Fox News fire Tucker Carlson? Here are five theories

Tucker Carlson’s private messages and damaging lawsuits spark ‘crisis’ at Fox News

Thursday 27 April 2023 22:30 , Alex Woodward

Hundreds of court filings and anonymously sourced reports from inside Fox News have stitched together a picture of a looming human resources nightmare inside the right-wing media behemoth, with a federal lawsuit from a now-former producer putting Tucker Carlson at the centre of allegations.

Overlapping accounts across multiple news outlets allege that the decision to fire him from the network may have stemmed from Abby Grossberg’s lawsuit, a “crisis” surrounding redacted vulgar messages aimed at other Fox News employees, and Rupert Murdoch’s allegedly growing impatience with the host of the network’s most-watched programme, among other factors.

Tucker Carlson’s private messages and a damaging lawsuit spark ‘crisis’ at Fox News

‘Tucker Carlson reshaped the Republican Party in his own image'

Thursday 27 April 2023 22:00 , Alex Woodward

The Independent’s chief Washington correspondent Eric Garcia explains the grip that the most-watched host on the most-watched cable news network had on the GOP:

But nowhere is Carlson’s impact on the GOP felt more than in his repetition of lies about the 2020 presidential election and the Capitol riot of January 6. He had such a momentous hold on the Fox viewership that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy felt compelled to share footage of the January 6 riot with him, which Carlson then used to whitewash the attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.

His language now flows throughout the bloodstream of modern Republican rhetoric. While the far-right flank of the GOP will have one fewer outlet on which to pontificate, his words have won the argument in the internecine feuds within the Republican Party. And that cannot be untold.

Tucker Carlson reshaped the Republican Party in his own image

Newsmax seeks a spike in primetime viewers after Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox News

Thursday 27 April 2023 21:31 , Alex Woodward

Newsmax pulls far below the millions of viewers on its primetime programming that are drawn to Fox News and other major cable networks, but the network has seen a spike in viewers after its rival Fox News fired its far-right star Tucker Carlson on Monday.

That night, at the 8pm slot when Carlson’s programme would typically air, the network drew roughly 530,000 viewers – roughly five times the number of people who watched one week earlier. The next day in the same primetime slot, the network grew to 562,000 viewers.

Fox, meanwhile, has seen dwindling numbers at the 8pm slot that formerly held Tucker Carlson Tonight but now runs the interim Fox News Tonight.

Roughly 2.65 million people watched what would be his final episode last Friday. On Monday, the number dropped to 2.59, then 1.7 on Tuesday, then 1.3 on Wednesday.

Newsmax anchors have delivered fawning coverage of Carlson in recent days, running viewer polls on his firing and even asking at one point, ““Is it right for Fox News to fire Tucker Carlson?”

Evidence in the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit showed that Fox leadership feared losing viewers to the small rival network during the 2020 presidential election, when Newsmax was among far-right networks amplified bogus allegations that the election was stolen.

Newsmax is also being sued by Dominion as well as Smartmatic, another elections technology company.

Tucker Carlson’s final days at Fox News

Thursday 27 April 2023 21:30 , Alex Woodward

What ended up being Tucker Carlson’s final week on the network relied on familiar themes from a nightly lineup that has grown increasingly more extreme in recent years, tilting at far-right fringe conspiracy theories and anti-trans attacks.

It ended with a plug for his 25-minute special in his line of Tucker Carlson Originals winking at a conspiracy theory that world leaders are forcing people to eat bugs.

Tucker Carlson’s final days at Fox: Dominion bombshells, Elon Musk and eating bugs

Carlson’s comeback video gets more views than his primetime Fox News show did

Thursday 27 April 2023 21:00 , Alex Woodward

Tucker Carlson broke his silence over his exit from Fox News in a defiant and conspiracy-laced video he posted to Twitter on Wednesday evening at 8pm, his former primetime slot on the channel.

And the conspiracy-driven video had more than 1.8 million views in the hour after its release, with more than 5 million people seeing it on their timeline on Elon Musk’s social media app, according to Mediaite.

By 1pm ET on Thursday, the video had been directly watched by 17.3 million users, and seen on the timeline of 57.8 million.

Tucker Carlson’s comeback video gets more views than his primetime Fox News show did

ICYMI: Tucker Carlson was caught making inappropriate comments about ‘postmenopausal fans’ before Fox News fired him

Thursday 27 April 2023 20:30 , Alex Woodward

Tucker Carlson was caught off camera talking about how his older female “fans” would like how he looked on his prime-time show, The New York Times reported.

In another video, the host was allegedly heard talking about how he found a woman “yummy.”

Tucker Carlson was caught making inappropriate comments about ‘postmenopausal fans’

‘Tucker Carlson’s legacy at Fox News is that he was a giant phony’

Thursday 27 April 2023 20:00 , Alex Woodward

The Independent’s Richard Hall, who profiled Tucker Carlson in the months leading up to the 2020 election, at a critical juncture for the most-watched cable news personality in America, reflects on his departure from the network:

But what made Carlson different from other broadcasters? Stripped of context and the pomp of primetime, there isn’t much to distinguish him from any other shock jock blowhard. He is no great intellect. Most of his arguments and soliloquies would collapse under the mildest scrutiny — which is why he rarely hosted opposing viewpoints. People like him — bigoted, but effective communicators — have always existed in some form.

What made him unique was the platform provided to him by one of the most-watched cable news network in the country. It was Rupert Murdoch who made the consequential decision to unleash Carlson on the country and reaped the financial rewards for doing so.

Tucker Carlson’s legacy at Fox News is that he was a giant phony

House Republicans affirm support for Carlson, whose influence in right-wing politics is nearly unmatched

Thursday 27 April 2023 19:30 , Alex Woodward

The Washington Post’s review of congressional Republicans’ responses to the firing of Tucker Carlson is a revealing look into how his platform distilled unhinged right-wing outrage into a message that molded Fox viewers and Republican voters, who then brought their complaints to their elected representatives.

“I think he’s had huge sway, period,” US Rep Jim Jordan told the newspaper.

“I know all kinds of people who are like, I gotta listen to Tucker’s monologue,” he added. “That’s one of the things they wanted to do. So I think he’s had huge impact across the board.”

A survey of congressional staff from Punchbowl News in 2021 found that Carlson was the most important Republican voice among people who were not seeking office. Sean Hannity came in a distant second.

(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

GOP senator suggests Carlson’s exit could smoothe support for Ukraine among congressional Republicans

Thursday 27 April 2023 19:00 , Alex Woodward

Texas Senator John Cornyn, among congressional Republicans who have defended support for Ukraine against Russian’s assault, suggested to The Washington Post that Tucker Carlson’s exit from Fox News (along with his segments undermining Ukraine and bolstering Russia) could smooth support for Ukraine in Washington DC.

“I disagreed with his position on Ukraine, and I think continuing to support Ukraine is in our national interest,” he said, “and if this makes that easier, then that’s a good thing.”

(EPA)
(EPA)

ICYMI: Justice Department reportedly interested in Abby Grossberg’s tapes

Thursday 27 April 2023 18:30 , Alex Woodward

Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith – who is investigating the events surrounging January 6 and Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election – are interested in former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg’s recordings of Fox stars during off-air conversations with elected officials and members of Trump’s team.

Ms Grossberg attorney’s Gerry Filippatos told CNN on Wednesday he provided Mr Smith’s team with a spreadsheet outlining the contents of the 90 tapes, some of which have been aired or published in recent days.

Talks are reportedly underway for a subpoena so Ms Grossberg can provide federal prosecutors with more information.

“We’re in the process of negotiating a targeted subpoena for Abby’s electronic data, so they can have what they want,” Mr Filippatos said.

Tucker Carlson’s offensive messages about a Fox News colleague ‘sealed his fate’ at the network, report finds

Thursday 27 April 2023 18:05 , Alex Woodward

Lawyers for Fox News reportedly persuaded a Delaware court to redact legal filings that showed Tucker Carlson calling a senior executive at the network the “c-word” as Fox prepared for a defamation trial following Dominion Voting Systems’s lawsuit, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Carlson, however, was reportedly not impressed, and did not care that his remarks would be made public.

The New York Times reported similar findings, with the messages that echo accusations in a lawsuit from Abby Grossberg, a former producer on Tucker Carlson Tonight whose complaint alleges widespread toxicity at the Fox News workplace, where Grossberg and other women were routinely verbally violated “by a poisonous and entrenched patriarchy.”

Earlier this week, NPR media reporter David Folkenflik said he heard Carlson describe another person using the same vulgar language.

Carlson also called election conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell as a “f****** b****,” according to messages obtained by Dominion.

Recordings from a former Fox News producer go way beyond Tucker Carlson

Thursday 27 April 2023 17:00 , Alex Woodward

Former Tucker Carlson Tonight producer Abby Grossberg, who was fired after suing the network in a complaint alleging widespread harassment and toxicity at Fox News, said she has roughly 90 recordings from her time at the network.

One of those recordings includes a call between Texas Senator Ted Cruz with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo revealing his support for an appointed electoral commission to reject the outcome of the 2020 presidential election to keep Donald Trump in office.

Bombshell leaked audio reveals Ted Cruz plotting to overturn 2020 election

‘It’s gonna get a little mutually assured destruction-y for a few days'

Thursday 27 April 2023 16:30 , Alex Woodward

Tucker Carlson’s video was released on Twitter not only during what would have been his 8pm primetime slot on Fox News, but just an hour after The New York Times reported that private messages that were redacted in legal filings in the Dominion case “went beyond the inflammatory, often racist comments of his prime-time show and anything disclosed in the lead-up to the trial.”

Media reporter Brian Stetler also noted that the video makes a lot more sense “if you view it as a rather spontaneous reaction to the NYT story that landed one hour before.”

Angelo Carusone, president of right-wing media watchdog Media Matters, also noted that Rolling Stone has reported that the network collected opposition materials against him, in the event that he retaliated.

“Tucker got mad because he thinks Fox released oppo on him, so he releases a video taking a not so subtle jab at Fox and basically says he is coming for Fox audience. Now, watch: Fox will release more oppo,” Carusone wrote.

“It’s gonna get a little mutually assured destruction-y for a few days.”

Gretchen Carlson: Fox News needs to ‘clean house completely’ to see real change

Thursday 27 April 2023 16:00 , Alex Woodward

Gretchen Carlson – who sued former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes in 2016 following sexual harassment allegations – wrote a column for The Daily Beast questioning whether the changes made at the network in the aftermath of the massive settlement with Dominion Voting Systems will be meaningful.

“Since my case was resolved, Fox has repeatedly said that it has moved on from its toxic culture. I don’t know if that’s true or not. But we do know that since the Ailes years, Fox management and talent have continued to spin a web of lies to deceive viewers and confuse American voters, all harmful to the country,” she wrote.

She told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Wednesday night that the network needs to “clean house completely” to commit to any significant change.

“If Fox really wants to have a genuine recommitment to journalism, albeit with a conservative point of view – but at least truths – then they really have to clean house completely,” she said.

“When you get rid of a Bill O’Reilly, you put a Tucker Carlson in there and they get even higher ratings,” she added. “They have a business decision to make. I think there’s been a complete shift in the old Fox and the Fox of the last five to seven years.”

Hayes disputed that, but Carlson added that the network has become a “rudderless ship”.

Joe Scarborough: ‘There’s no conspiracy theory here. This is something that would get you fired anywhere'

Thursday 27 April 2023 15:30 , Alex Woodward

Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, criticised speculation about Tucker Carlson’s firing after overlapping reports from several publications outlined allegations surrounding Carlson, including offensive remarks about colleagues and others, echoing accusations in a recent lawsuit from a former producer.

“There’s not a corporation in America, there’s not a company in America, where a worker could say that about a female boss and survive. Not one,” he said on his Thursday programme.

“There’s no conspiracy theory here,” he said. “This is something that would literally get you fired anywhere in the United States.”

The one thing Tucker Carlson didn’t mention in his latest video

Thursday 27 April 2023 15:00 , Alex Woodward

Tucker Carlson broke his silence following his abrupt exit from Fox News in a defiant and conspiracy-laced video he posted to Twitter on Wednesday night.

Carlson said in the video – which dropped at 8pm ET, his previous starting time in his Fox News slot – that after being “outside the noise for a few days” he realised how “unbelievably stupid most of the debates you see on television are,” calling them “completely irrelevant” and insisting that they “mean nothing.”

Tucker Carlson didn’t mention one thing in his first comments after Fox News firing

Tucker Carlson’s private messages and damaging lawsuits spark ‘crisis’ at Fox News

Thursday 27 April 2023 14:30 , Alex Woodward

Good morning in America.

Hundreds of court filings and anonymously sourced reports from inside Fox News have stitched together a picture of a looming human resources nightmare inside the right-wing media behemoth, with a federal lawsuit from a now-former producer putting Tucker Carlson at the centre of allegations.

Overlapping accounts across multiple news outlets allege that the decision to fire him from the network may have stemmed from Abby Grossberg’s lawsuit, a “crisis” surrounding redacted vulgar messages aimed at other Fox News employees, and Rupert Murdoch’s allegedly growing impatience with the host of the network’s most-watched programme, among other factors.

A series of redacted messages discovered just days before what was set to become a closely watched defamation trial in Delaware allegedly sparked panic among Fox leadership that ultimately led to Carlson’s exit.

Private messages in legal filings reportedly include crude and offensive remarks from Carlson that, coupled with embarrassing behind-the-scenes revelations included with Dominion’s case against the company, prompted Fox leadership to take action, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported.

Tucker Carlson’s private messages and a damaging lawsuit spark ‘crisis’ at Fox News

Tucker Carlson’s climate problem

Thursday 27 April 2023 14:00 , Alex Woodward

Tucker Carlson Tonight was a hotbed of fossil-fuel industry talking points, wackadoo conspiracy theories and monologues interwoven with racist, misogynistic, xenophobic and homophobic material,The Independent’s senior climate correspondent Louise Boyle writes.

He claimed that the “existence of winter disproves the science of climate change”; called climate science a “state religion”; said scientists and activists “bully” people like him and “hate the Earth... hate nature.”

As The New York Times noted, his most reliable framing was “you vs them,” which he also applied to the climate crisis and the environment.

The real reason Tucker Carlson should have been fired

Fox News agrees to hand over more documents to Smartmatic case

Thursday 27 April 2023 13:30 , Rachel Sharp

Fox News agreed Wednesday to hand over thousands of documents to voting machine company Smartmatic, which is suing the network for defamation in a case similar to Dominion Voting Machines’ just-settled lawsuit.

Smartmatic says Fox bears financial responsibility for airing false allegations that the company rigged the 2020 presidential election against former President Donald Trump.

Last week, Fox agreed to pay Dominion nearly $800m to avert a trial, although the ultimate cost to the media company is likely to be much lower.

Smartmatic wants a $2.7bn judgment, which far exceeds the $1.6bn Dominion sought in its suit. No date has been set, and the case might not go to court for a couple of years.

Smartmatic said in court filings that Fox “slow-rolled its production” of transcripts and other material that were created during the Dominion suit, and that Smartmatic had received just a small fraction of the more than 52,000 documents it requested as part of the discovery process.

Among the documents Smartmatic hopes will bolster its case are deposition transcripts for Fox founder Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan Murdoch, as well as documents related to company executive Raj Shah and lawyer Viet Dinh.

In a statement, Fox News said it was ready to defend itself in “this case surrounding extremely newsworthy events.”

Tucker Carlson’s legacy at Fox News is that he was a giant phony’

Thursday 27 April 2023 13:00 , Alex Woodward

The Independent’s Richard Hall, who profiled Tucker Carlson in the months leading up to the 2020 election, at a critical juncture for the most-watched cable news personality in America, reflects on his departure from the network:

But what made Carlson different from other broadcasters? Stripped of context and the pomp of primetime, there isn’t much to distinguish him from any other shock jock blowhard. He is no great intellect. Most of his arguments and soliloquies would collapse under the mildest scrutiny – which is why he rarely hosted opposing viewpoints. People like him – bigoted, but effective communicators – have always existed in some form.

What made him unique was the platform provided to him by one of the most-watched cable news network in the country. It was Rupert Murdoch who made the consequential decision to unleash Carlson on the country and reaped the financial rewards for doing so.

Tucker Carlson’s legacy at Fox News is that he was a giant phony

Tucker Carlson's comeback video gets more views than his primetime Fox News show did

Thursday 27 April 2023 12:30 , Rachel Sharp

Tucker Carlson's Twitter video breaking his silence after his firing from Fox News has gotten more views than his primetime show did at the right-wing network.

The views on his video – in which he continued to push conspiracies and made a thinly-veiled dig at his former employer – topped more than 1.8 million views in less than an hour after its release on Wednesday night, Twitter statistics show.

More than 5 million Twitter users saw the post on their timeline, statistics show.

This compares to the 1.7 million viewers who tuned in to watch Fox News Tonight on Tuesday, which replaced hisTucker Carlson Tonight show.

Justice Department reportedly interested in Abby Grossberg’s tapes

Thursday 27 April 2023 12:00 , Alex Woodward

Justice Department Special Counsel Jack Smith – who is investigating the events surrounging January 6 and Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election – are interested in former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg’s recordings of Fox stars during off-air conversations with elected officials and members of Trump’s team.

Ms Grossberg attorney’s Gerry Filippatos told CNN on Wednesday he provided Mr Smith’s team with a spreadsheet outlining the contents of the 90 tapes, some of which have been aired or published in recent days.

Talks are reportedly underway for a subpoena so Ms Grossberg can provide federal prosecutors with more information.

“We’re in the process of negotiating a targeted subpoena for Abby’s electronic data, so they can have what they want,” Mr Filippatos said.

Tucker Carlson was caught on video commenting about ‘postmenopausal fans’ before firing

Thursday 27 April 2023 11:30 , Rachel Sharp

Tucker Carlson was caught on video making inappropriate comments about women and his “postmenopausal fans” before he was fired from Fox News, according to a report.

In the video, obtained by The New York Times, Carlson is heard off-camera talking about whether his “postmenopausal fans” would like how he looks on his primetime show.

In a second video, Carlson is said to be heard referring to a woman as “yummy”.

The video has come to light as multiple reports have cited the discovery of offensive and crude text messages sent by Carlson as a key factor in his sudden ousting.

Abby Grossberg’s attorney shares audio of Ted Cruz and Maria Bartiromo discussing efforts to overturn 2020 results

Thursday 27 April 2023 11:00 , Alex Woodward

A recording of Ted Cruz speaking with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo in the days surrounding January 6 has shed more light on the senator’s intentions to assist Donald Trump in overturning the 2020 election.

The recording, made by former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg and published by MSNBC and The Washington Post, reveals Mr Cruz’s support for an appointed electoral commission that would deny election certification relying on unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.

The Independent’s Ariana Baio has more:

Bombshell leaked audio reveals Ted Cruz plotting to overturn 2020 election

Ex-Fox News producer says Tucker Carlson made her life ‘a living hell’

Thursday 27 April 2023 10:00 , Alisha Rahaman Sarkar

Abby Grossberg, the former Fox News producer who is suing the network, said Tuesday that Tucker Carlson and his executive producer were responsible making her life a “living hell” when she worked for them.

Ms Grossberg, who was fired by Fox shortly after filing a pair of lawsuits against the network earlier this year, said during an appearance on MSNBC that Carlson’s sudden termination by Fox on Monday left her with mixed emotions.

“There were feelings first of ‘Yes!’ and then also the reality that you don’t want anything bad to happen to anybody,” Ms Grossberg said. “But at the same time, Tucker and his executive producer, Justin Wells, who was also fired, really were responsible for breaking me and making my life a living hell. So there is a feeling of justice, but it’s only partial.”

Fired Fox producer says Tucker Carlson made her life ‘a living hell’

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