The most watched man in cable news is no longer at Fox “News".
It can’t possibly have anything to do with the massive election fraud settlement last week, now can it? Tucker Carlson, popularizer of race pseudoscientist Charles Murray (among other egregious things, see last part of this post), is out at Fox News. Finally. This outcome is particularly surprising because he had Lachlan Murdoch as his “protector,” up until recently, even after his infamous anti-Semitic replacement theory promoting days. “People familiar with the situation who were not authorized to comment publicly said the decision to fire Carlson came straight from Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch,” writes Stephen Battaglio at the Los Angeles Times. Why?
Speculation — and it is all just speculation right now — varies. As Fox News settlements usually involve someone taking the blame, there is word that this separation of ways might be the proximate — but not direct cause — of the big settlement. Greg Sargent of the WashPo writes:
Carlson, who just parted ways with Fox News less than a week after the network agreed to pay $787 million to settle a lawsuit over false claims about the 2020 election, has relentlessly portrayed Epps as an FBI stooge who provoked the Jan. 6 rioters. In this alt-history of Jan. 6, the rioters are the persecuted victims of corrupt law enforcement institutions that were hijacked by elites to suppress a virtuous, if regrettably violent, uprising against an illegitimate order.
The Epps conspiracy theory is based largely on video of him on Jan. 6 urging Donald Trump’s supporters to converge on the Capitol. Epps is seen whispering in the ear of one of them, after which the mob rushed police officers, supposedly showing he inspired that attack. After the FBI declined to prosecute Epps for his role on Jan. 6, the false-flag theory took hold.
But a new “60 Minutes” episode debunks this with additional video of Epps just after he whispered to the man. It shows Epps repeatedly urging the rioters to calm down and refrain from violence. “They’re not the enemy,” Epps told the rioters, speaking about the police.
Epps is hardly a hero. He continues to suggest the 2020 outcome is dubious, and on Jan. 6 he sought to inflame others with the same idea (while urging them to remain peaceful). But his story stands as a damning indictment of Carlson, right-wing media and Republicans in Congress who sought to push the false-flag theory.
While the network, according to reports, has not elaborated on the decision to cut Carlson, there are hints that it might indeed be related to the Ray Epps lawsuit. The timing seems about right, considering that the Epps suit was one of the segments on the highly-rated 60 Minutes last night. And this morning the news broke about Carlson.
Then, there is also the matter of the two lawsuits filed by Tucker's former senior booking producer, Abby Grossberg. The timing there as well fits — her lawsuits were filed a month before Tucker was ousted. In the Tucker Carlson lawsuit there are allegations of anti-Semitism and vulgarities against women (very on-brand); in the other, Grossberg claims that the Fox legal team coerced her into giving misleading answers in the Dominion case.
Carlson’s executive producer is also out, if that is a clue. From semafor:
Carlson had been the most powerful figure at the network and, perhaps, in the party, the top-rated figure in news and an oft-mentioned potential candidate for president of the United States.
But he was also an employee of the Murdoch family business, which is reeling from an embarrassing, expensive defamation lawsuit and facing more legal action.
Carlson's executive producer Justin Wells is also out at the network, according to two people familiar with the situation.
The network said in a statement Monday that they have "agreed to part ways," with Carlson's final show airing last Friday.
Here are some of Tucker’s most egregious media moments:
— After the George Floyd protests: “This may be a lot of things, this moment we’re living through, but it is definitely not about black lives.” It never is with Tucker, except when it comes to pseudoscientific IQ race theories …
— In an infamous June 16 episode of Fox Nation, Tucker Carlson had on Charles Murray to chat about why social inequality is based in part on the intellectual genetic inferiority based on race. From Megan Garber, in The Atlantic:
On the June 16 episode of Tucker Carlson Today, Carlson hosted a man the Southern Poverty Law Center classifies as an extremist—ideology: white nationalism—on the basis of his use of “racist pseudoscience and misleading statistics to argue that social inequality is caused by the genetic inferiority of the Black and Latino communities, women and the poor.” Carlson spoke with Charles Murray for nearly an hour. He flattered. He fawned. “We are honored to have you,” Carlson told him.
Murray, who disputes the SPLC’s assessment of him, spent the episode issuing the kinds of claims that have made him infamous. At one point, he stated as fact that white people are more qualified for cognitively challenging professions than Black people are. Carlson did not push back on the assertion.
— Tucker Carlson insulted Teen Vogue writer Lauren Duca after he lost a debate to her on the role of Ivanka Trump in her father’s then-Presidential campaign in 2016. Mashable’s Ariel Bogle wrote:
Smirking about her role at Teen Vogue and work on celebrity and fashion as well as politics, Carlson pushed Duca off the show with the line, "you should stick to the thigh-high boots. You're better at that." When she responded that he was sexist, he cut her off air completely.
— Tucker also came out strongly against testicle tanning. There is a bizarre strain of the bizarre alt-right that obsesses over masculinity. Carlson — hardly a superlative example of manliness — got on that bandwagon. One year ago the “End of Men” segment was born. From Rolling Stone:
We also now know what’s going on with the guy on the rock exposing his private parts to a wash of red light. He was tanning his balls. Carlson endorsed the practice in the special as one of several ways men can return themselves to testosterone-fueled dominance, which the special argues is necessary for society to “reestablish order” after collapse.
“So, obviously, half the viewers right now are like, ‘What? Testicle tanning? That’s crazy!'” Carlson says. “But my view is, OK, testosterone levels have crashed and nobody says anything about it. That’s crazy. So why is it crazy to seek solutions?”
— Then, finally, there was the time Jon Stewart dismantled Tucker Carlson on “Crossfire.” If only that had been the end right there.
And, as a result of this interview, the show was cancelled. Tucker, however, lived again — on Fox. Until of course today.
Inside CNN’s Defenestration of Don Lemon (VF)
NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell Fired With Cause Over Harassment Claim, Comcast Says (THR)
Disney reaches 4,000 layoffs. (Variety)
Politicians, 2024 candidates, and others react to Tucker Carlson leaving Fox News (semafor)