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
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.
Tucker Carlson’s private messages and damaging lawsuits spark ‘crisis’ at Fox News
Tucker Carlson’s comeback video gets more views than his primetime Fox News show did
Tucker Carlson was caught making inappropriate comments about ‘postmenopausal fans’ before Fox News fired him
Why was Tucker Carlson fired from Fox News?
A rival channel, a podcast or a foray into politics? Tucker Carlson teases his next move after Fox exit
ICYMI: Rupert Murdoch was reportedly disturbed by Carlson’s segments on Ukraine
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.
Why are other Fox figures in the Dominion suit still working there?
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.
Rudy Giuliani defends Carlson in lie-filled segment blaming ‘deep state cabal’ for his firing
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.
Fox rivals try to court Tucker Carlson’s audience
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.
Trump reacts to Tucker Carlson’s exit from Fox News
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.
Newsmax seeks a spike in primetime viewers. Fox is losing them
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.
Why was Tucker Carlson fired from Fox News?
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
Trump says ‘it’s a shame’ what happened to Tucker Carlson: ‘He was telling the truth’
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’
What the Tucker Carlson Dominion texts said about Trump
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
Grossberg lawsuits
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.”
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