Tucker Carlson news – live: Fired Fox News host’s sexist comments about fans revealed as Newsmax ratings climb
Tucker Carlson broke his silence in a Twitter video message where he hinted that Americans will be seeing him soon
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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.
‘Other personalities will be leaving in the months to come’
Media reporter Brian Stelter, the author of Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth and the upcoming Network of Lies, told The Daily Beast that he believes “other personalities will be leaving in the months to come,” adding that he fallout from the Dominion case is far from over.
Regarding the Smartmatic case, “we will be ready to defend this case surrounding extremely newsworthy events when it goes to trial, likely in 2025,” according to a statement from a Fox spokesperson to The Independent. “As a report prepared by our financial expert shows, Smartmatic’s damages claims are implausible, disconnected from reality, and on its face intended to chill First Amendment freedoms.”
Not just Tucker: Other Fox figures were removed from the network
In depositions in the Dominion case, News Corporation chair Rupert Murdoch acknowledged that hosts on his network – Bartiromo, Pirro and Lou Dobbs – elevated those election lies.
Dobbs, who uncritically gave election conspiracy theorists Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani a platform on his Fox programme, was removed from the network in February 2021.
Dominion’s filings reveal Fox leadership, producers and on-air personalities privately debunking election lies and ridiculing conspiracy theorists and the Fox hosts who gave them airtime. Dobbs ran several segments devoted to them.
He aired a segment based on a provably false tweet from then-President Trump about votes being switched to Joe Biden, prompting Fox Business News President Lauren Petterson to say in an email: “Jesus Christ. Does anyone do a f***ing simple Google search or read emails?”
Tony Fratto, a former deputy White House press secretary under George W Bush and a communications consultant to Dominion, wrote directly to Fox executives on 16 November, 2020, warning that the network’s promotion of election lies “is crossing dangerous lines.”
That same night, he forwarded part of a transcript from Dobbs’ broadcast to Fox News president Jay Wallace.
“More f****ing lies, he wrote. “Honestly. He is a disgrace.”
Lawsuit alleges toxic dysfunction, workplace harassment, retaliation, and casual bigotry
Earlier this month, Dobbs and Fox News also settled a separate defamation lawsuit over false claims that a Venezuelan businessman helped execute an “electoral 9-11” and a “cyber Pearl Harbor,” as Dobbs wrote on Twitter.
Justin Wells – a now-former producer on Tucker Carlson Tonight – was also fired along with Carlson this week.
Wells was mentioned throughout a lawsuit from Abby Grossberg, a former producer at Tucker Carlson Tonight who was fired after filing her complaint against the company and Carlson himself.
Ms Grossberg’s lawsuit, filed in US District Court in New York last month, 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.
The claims in her lawsuit allege a much larger state of toxic dysfunction, workplace harassment, retaliation and casual bigotry at the programme and inside Fox News.
A statement from Fox News to The Independent following her lawsuit said the company “engaged an independent outside counsel to immediately investigate the concerns raised by Ms Grossberg, which were made following a critical performance review.”
“Abby Grossberg’s allegations in connection with the Dominion case are baseless and she had no bearing on the settlement,” the statement added. “We will vigorously defend Fox against all of her unmeritorious legal claims, which are riddled with false allegations against the network and our employees.”
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