Possible Reasons for Tucker Carlson's Departure From Fox News Start to Come Into View: Dominion says it’s not about them

Red State ^ | 04/24/2023 | Bonchie

[SeekAndFind]

In one of the most shocking political developments of the last decade, Tucker Carlson parted ways with Fox News on Monday. The decision was apparently abrupt, as the network was planning to air an interview with Carlson and 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy on the very next show.

Obviously, that segment has now been canned, and Fox News is reportedly filling the timeslot with an hour of Fox News Tonight using a revolving door of hosts.

Note: Tucker was supposed to do a show tonight. He was set to interview Vivek Ramaswamy. Fox had been promoting it this AM.

So whatever happened, it was abrupt.

My gut is Tucker didn’t want to play ball in this delicate moment for Fox News and it unravelled fast.

— Angelo Carusone (@GoAngelo) April 24, 2023

Speculation as to why Carlson exited the network so quickly has already begun. Many are suggesting that some provision in the Dominion lawsuit demanded it, but that seems unlikely given Carlson was planning to be on air until this happened. Still, the Dominion lawsuit is likely the catalyst in other ways.

As RedState reported, Fox News recently settled a defamation claim brought by the voting system company for $787 million. Just a day prior to that, I had written that big changes were no doubt coming to the network given how bleak things looked.

The long and short of this is that Fox News is in a lot of trouble. The amount of money they could be required to pay out if they lose at trial could cripple the network, and there’s no guarantee that Dominion will give them the out of a lower settlement. Wherever this goes, you can probably bet that big changes are coming to Fox News in the future.

I’ll be honest in saying that Carlson’s ouster didn’t seem probable at the time, though. He is obviously their biggest draw and likely their biggest money maker as far as hosts go. For him to leave has to mean something more happened than just executives being mad about the lawsuit settlement.

It was rumored that Tucker wanted to go on air Monday night and “clear his name” related to the lawsuit, presumably meaning the Dominion lawsuit, and that “corporate nixed the idea.”

My sources are telling me: Tucker was all set to go live tonight. He probably had plans to talk about the lawsuit and clear his name. Producers were prepping guests and slots of Monday's show. Corporate nixed the idea and Tucker up and quit!

— Justin Hart (@justin_hart) April 24, 2023

According to another report, it was Rupert Murdoch who ultimately decided to end things with Carlson.

🚨 #BREAKING: Fox Corporation Chair Rubert Murdoch made the final decision to part ways with Tucker Carlson — Los Angeles Times

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) April 24, 2023

According to the LA Times:

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.

Carlson’s exit is related to the discrimination lawsuit filed by Abby Grossberg, the producer fired by the network last month, the people said. Murdoch is also said to be concerned over Carlson’s coverage of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, in which the host has promoted the conspiracy theory that it was provoked by government agents.

Carlson has called Ray Epps — a Texas man who participated in the storming of the Capitol but did not enter the building — an FBI plant, without presenting any evidence. Epps was interviewed Sunday on “60 Minutes” and said he has been subjected to death threats as a result of Carlson’s statements about him.

And, Dominion says it’s not about them:

The decision is not related to the $787.5-million settlement Fox News agreed to pay to Dominion Voting Systems last week, according to a representative for Dominion.

However, some of the comments that Carlson had made about management in communications that turned up in the discovery process for the case may have also played a role in Carlson’s demise.

Regardless, I have no doubt Carlson will not only land on his feet but become even more popular. He has the talent and the following to set the podcasting world on fire, and I’d guess that’s the direction he goes. He’ll be able to call his own shots and not be beholden to the demands of a corporate overlord. The future for Fox News isn’t quite as bright. They’ve lost their top audience draw, and no other person exists who can fill that hole. Viewers are going to be angry over this, no matter what the details are.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This piece was edited post-publication to include additional information and for clarity.)

The opinions expressed by contributors are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.

[Eva]

I think that you are right about O’Reilly. I thought that O’Reilly had pressured the women for sex, but I think that there were some accusations of color remarks.

I know that Tucker has said that he was once went through a law suit of false sexual harassment and that was the reason that he was very careful not to do anything that could be misconstrued. ….but the anti-Semitism accusation sounds even more ridiculous.

[Tench_Coxe]

"Get woke go broke? No, carry on, business as usual. I wish I could live to see some pension fund sue the asses off of a bunch of board room cretins for malfeasance."

I'd like to see a vote on a portion going towards bounties, explicitly laid out on amount and what gets paid for each. Might be good for a laugh.

[marcusmaximus]

One of the reasons, but not the only. And he wasn’t fired for the bad things he said about President Trump in his emails. But fired for all of the other stuff in the emails that were compiled for the Dominion, Smartmatic and Grossberg lawsuits for all the lawyers to see. Especially the Fox lawyers.

[Tench_Coxe]

Isn’t Ukraine more important? This forum needs more of those posts from you and your ‘friends’

[marcusmaximus]

Tucker’s contract expires at the end of 2023 and he was currently in negotiations for a 6 year extension. Reports are that he and Don Lemon just hired the same LA lawyer to sue for a bigger payoff.

[marcusmaximus]

Tucker was controlled opposition and a useful idiot for Rupert Murdoch. After the Dominion payoff, Tucker was no longer useful. That’s why he got the hook. Maybe he can go on Dancing With The Stars again.

[DesertRhino]

But that interview was conducted by someone FOX trusts not to go too far in going after DC and the party.

[DesertRhino]

And you know this is true.... how?

And funny, the Ukraine shill is also an enemy of Tucker and an ally of rino Fox management. Interesting...

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

Before El RushBo, real conservatism and honesty had very few outlets. Yes, there was National Review. I even subscribed (still do) to the great American Spectator. Rush had a USA map where he would place pushpins as his TV and radio show spread across the fruited plain. He managed to eventually be on over 600....SIX HUNDRED radio stations. We hear different reports that he reached 650, but it doesn’t matter because he maintained his dominance for 30 YEARS. He was born to be on the radio, and we were born to listen.

The only reason Faux News could be successful in the beginning was because of the example Rush set, and the dearth of right-thinking television. When Rush began speaking to the nation, there were hundreds of millions who just went to work every day, worked to raise their families, worked to provide for their families, and just wanted to be left alone (whether or not they owned a firearm, whether or not they attended church regularly), millions finally heard what they were thinking every day. My family had the amazing fortune to have discovered Rush the first week he began in Sacramento.

I say all this in hopes that Tucker, Bongino and others will find a way to reach the millions that will listen and watch. Bongino often discusses the parallel economy. Perhaps a parallel media will develop and spread out the way Rush did. With today’s technology, there is no limit, and no shortage of people who still believe in the American Founding, in truth, justice, and the American way. That is why the DemoKKKrats have to lie and cheat to gain power. As Rush so often said, they cannot compete in the arena of ideas.

[Eva]

I just read an article posted on Free Republic about the ADL weighing in on the Tucker firing.

“ Carlson is separately facing a lawsuit from a Jewish former producer on his show, who alleges that senior staff fostered an office culture full of sexism and antisemitism, including berating an Israeli employee for taking the High Holidays off from work. The producer, Abby Grossberg, also said that she had been pushed by Fox to give false testimony in the Dominion case.”

[vivenne]

So she had an agenda and has been recording them for years. Wonder why she was fired and by whom at FOX news?

[vivenne]

Where did you see this?

[CottonBall]

Your proof is… ?

[FlipWilson]

Isn’t it off that everyone has a reason or version of what happened that conveniently fits their agenda?

[virgil]

Racism, sexism, antisemitism. The same holy trinity of the left.

[ohioman]

It is just the usual leftist smear job directed at anyone who dare question the one-party state.

[Bratch]

Thoughts on Tucker Carlson’s Firing

April 24, 2023 | Sundance | 810 Comments

This is a context you won’t find elsewhere {smiles}. The phone has been blowing up….  Context and some details matter.

First, Carlson was being paid about $20 million a year by Murdoch.  He had about 3 years left on his contract and will be paid the full contract amount.  Carlson found out about 10 minutes before Fox Corp made the announcement.  They did not “part ways,” Tucker Carlson was fired.

(Via WSJ) – Mr. Carlson, whose contract was renewed in 2021, will be paid out for the rest of his contract, people familiar with the matter said. Mr. Carlson is paid about $20 million a year, one of the people said. Mr. Carlson found out he was being let go about 10 minutes before the network announced his departure, the people said. (link)

For financial context, remember Rupert Murdoch paid Megyn Kelly $15 million (Via Harper Collins) for the 2015/2016 operation against Donald Trump.  Paying $60 to $100 million to get rid of Carlson’s antagonistic voice is small money to Murdoch Inc. in the grand scheme of things. [Murdoch has also paid for Ron DeSantis to oppose Trump]

Carlson will not be asked to sign an NDA, is not bound by a “non-compete” clause following the contract nullification by Fox Corp, and will be free to do anything he wants in any venture.  Additionally, he will be free to say whatever he wants about the issues at Fox and speak freely, or not, without any legal or contractual constraints.  Keep all of that in mind.

Prior to 2021, Tucker Carlson was what you might call a Fox News loyalist.  He was very loyal to the organization.  During the COVID-19 era, Tucker Carlson moved his physical location away from Washington DC to his home in Maine.  Fox built him a studio, and Carlson manifest his own destiny free from most production constraints.

Over the past 18+/- months, viewers have watched Tucker Carlson essentially red pill himself each evening.  As he enjoyed the proximity freedom far away from the Eye of Sauron (DC’s control mechanism), Carlson’s eyes opened further to the reality of the situation that blankets our national consciousness.

Disconnected from the machine, free-range in his abilities, and with the intellectual curiosity of the average person, Tucker Carlson started to see the U.S. system as it is, not as media pretend it to be.  This is the increasing red pill absorption you have noted daily.  Along with that came a more pragmatic and brutally honest production quality to the content he shared.

Carlson’s influence grew as the audience grew; the more truth he spoke, the larger the audience.  That free-range influence became a liability to the system operators that hold power, including Rupert Murdoch who is a part of that control system.  In essence, and in the big picture, that’s what led to this event today.

Timing and Fox Digital.  Fox had just settled a lawsuit with Dominion Systems that has been widely reported.  The decision to fire Carlson had only one aspect connected to the Dominion settlement, financial timing.

Fox Corp is going to take a big hit in second quarter (Q2) earnings as part of the Dominion settlement.  If you are going to take a big financial hit, it’s better to go ahead and clear the decks of all financial hits at the same time.

Paying out Carlson simply gets all the big hits in the same quarter.

Digital is where the action is.  Digital subscriber services is where the future of all content is focused.   Understanding this reality gives you a scale of the darkness in the opposition elements facing our nation.  Fox News digital is Fox Nation.  Tucker Carlson and the show Tucker Carlson Today was the anchor of Fox Nation digital.

Fox Nation was struggling prior to Tucker Carlson’s long show broadcasts.  The entire Fox Corp digital streaming service, Fox Nation, was anchored around the Tucker Carlson Today digital streaming service.   Fox News has just torpedoed their anchor, shot their lead dog, destroyed the digital brand.  That gives you some scale and scope to how the elements viewed the threat of influence that Tucker Carlson had become.

Fox Corp, and Murdoch’s stenographers at the Wall Street Journal (SEE HERE), will try to frame the Carlson firing as something of a palate cleansing.  Claims of adversarial viewpoints, controversial views and conflicts with other Fox loyalists on the inside, will be used to frame the narrative.   However, all of those false frameworks are just that, false.  The source of the issue that led to the firing was 100% ideological.

During Tucker’s red pill absorption phase, he changed views on a variety of subjects from the FBI to the Fourth Branch of Government, to vaccination and COVID-19, to his views on Donald Trump as a disruption to an increasingly admitted corrupt political machine.

Context in the Tucker worldview expanded and he began to frame the conflict in a big picture of Good -vs- Evil.  Unfortunately for Carlson, this view was from inside a multinational corporate system spreading the darkness.  He had to be removed.

This is the reality of the situation as it unfolded.  Accept it or not, it matters not.  This is the Carlson reality.

Carlson was connecting the dots of manipulation beyond media, beyond social battles and constructs, and into the realm of finance, economics and ultimately behind the Potemkin Village of UniParty politics.  Blackrock has an increased stake in Fox Corp.

Talking about what happens behind the false front of the DC village is always a threat.   It is in the research and acceptance of the darkest pretending constructs that you realize how the illusions of choice are presented.

Tucker Carlson was no longer selling the illusions.

There are trillions at stake.

He was removed.

Tucker is free.

Welcome to the rebellion my friend!

[Sirius Lee]

Carlson has called Ray Epps — a Texas man who participated in the storming of the Capitol but did not enter the building — an FBI plant, without presenting any evidence.

Evidence: The guy is still walking free while others who did not enter it are still rotting in a DC jail.

[neverbluffer]

Lets call this for what it is. Blackrock and Vanguard are the two largest shareholders of Fox Corporation.

They are the ones behind this!

[Glad2bnuts]

Where is the link to these emails with the C word?