Fox News Media and its top-rated host Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways, less than a week after parent company Fox Corp settled for $787.5 million a defamation lawsuit in which Carlson played a starring role.
The outspoken Carlson embraced conservative issues and delivered his views with a style that made his prime-time show, "Tucker Carlson Tonight", the highest-rated cable news program in the key 25-to-54 age demographic on the most-watched US cable news network. Shares of Fox closed 2.9 per cent lower on the news, which the company announced on Monday.
Dominion Voting Systems alleged in its lawsuit that Carlson allowed debunked election-fraud claims about the voting-technology firm to air on his show, while casting doubts on the plausibility of those claims in private messages that emerged in legal filings.
Carlson is also key to additional legal battles facing Fox, including a lawsuit filed by his former head of booking Abby Grossberg, who said Fox coerced her testimony in the Dominion case.
Grossberg last month accused network lawyers of pressuring her to provide misleading testimony and said Fox exposed her and others to rampant sexism and misogyny. Fox fired Grossberg, saying her legal claims were “riddled with false allegations against Fox and our employees.”
Carlson's next move and the reason for his departure are unclear.
"We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,†Fox News said in a statement. While the departure leaves Fox without one of its biggest stars, advertisers have fled Carlson's show as he has embraced controversy.
Two sources familiar with the matter said Fox Corp Chief Executive Lachlan Murdoch and Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott reached the decision Friday night that it was time to part ways with Carlson.
A third person said the senior executive producer of "Tucker Carlson Tonight", Justin Wells, was also let go from Fox News on Monday.
US Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, said "Fox would suffer from Carlson's departure.”
