Posted on 04/26/2023 7:34:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Both Tucker Carlson and Fox News remain mum on the departure of Fox News’s most popular host beyond the terse initial announcement. While I have little doubt that Tucker was fired because he promised to see viewers on Monday during what ended up as his final broadcast last Friday, there have been intriguing signs that he was chafing under the Fox News yoke and may even welcome the circumstances of his departure.
Harriet Alexander of the UK Daily Mail cites several examples of tension with Fox management starting with coverage on the 2020 election:
Tucker Carlson was ousted by Fox News in part because executives were angry at his bitter criticism of them following the 2020 election, according to The Wall Street Journal - which, like Fox, is owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Carlson, who joined Fox in 2009 after stints at CNN, PBS and MSNBC, was not told why he was being dismissed when CEO Suzanne Scott called him on Monday morning.
Scott told him the decision was made 'from above.' The decision was made on Friday night by Lachlan Murdoch, according to the WSJ.
The paper said that executives were angry at the 'disparaging and derogatory remarks' he made about colleagues, including a plea to get White House reporter Jacqui Heinrich fired for fact-checking Donald Trump, and calling his bosses 'incompetent liberals' and 'f******'. (snip)Those made public include Carlson telling a colleague the day after the election was called for Joe Biden: 'Do the executives understand how much credibility and trust we've lost with our audience?'
In another, he said: 'Those f****** are destroying our credibility.'
He later wrote: 'A combination of incompetent liberals and top leadership with too much pride to back down is what's happening.'
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
[Fox News President Suzanne] Scott told him the decision was made 'from above.' The decision was made on Friday night by Lachlan Murdoch, according to the WSJ.
Presumably, Lachlan discussed his decision with his father over the weekend.
They did it far too early to be effective. He’s going to find a home before the 2024 election and I suspect there’s a streaming project on Twitter going live this summer.
I just wish Fox would hire him back so I wouldn’t have to see 100 articles a day about him.
if fox keeps paying his contract
can he do another gig?
RAV warroom was discussing this
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.
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.Sundance makes the good point that:
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.
It is unclear how much, if any, of the settlement money will come from insurance.
Tucker’s increasing willingness to use a good versus evil framework to discuss the political contest today has been evident for some time now. As far back as mid-2021, he agreed with his frequent guest Jason Whitlock that a lot of what the left wants is “satanic.” So, with an 8-figure severance payment from Fox on top of a personal fortune that was already substantial, Tucker Carlson has the resources to launch a platform of his own, free to frame issues as he sees them. Even though he earlier speculated that Newsmax has a huge opportunity as Fox moves left, I suspect streaming will be his chosen vehicle.
On-Air personality contracts like Fox uses often have performance clauses. They may or may not require that he refrain from performances elsewhere if they pay out his contract in full or at some level. Only the contract says what that clause may be.
it’s floating around twitter that he went over to OANN to be second in command... Not sure if its true or not.
I suspect Murdochs make decisions based on money.
Cash cows aren’t sent to the abattoir.
RE: if fox keeps paying his contract, can he do another gig?
I could be wrong, but Tucker’s contract could be similar to former Fox Hosts, Dan Bongino and Megyn Kelly.
Tucker’s former colleagues Dan Bongino and Megyn Kelly already are prominent as streaming podcast hosts, along with Joe Rogan, whose audience far exceeds that of any Fox program.
They are if the price is right.
The problem is the half life of remaining relevant. If he is not in front of people for months or longer, people move on. When very popular Katie Couric got hired to do the evening news, she decided to take the Summer off and start in the Fall. Her ratings were a disaster. It's also true if you are not readily available to a wide audience. Once hugely popular Bill O'Reilly left to do a podcast, he lost 95% of his audience, like Megyn Kelly. Tucker will be long forgotten if he doesn't rapidly reappear on multiple formats, cable, twitter streaming, etc. Even Trump knew this, thus the rallies over the past two years.
Was he gagged before?
Doesn’t appear so.
Why would he be gagged now?
The Dominion settlement is Murdoch’s capitulation to the “program,” and firing Carlson is a required part of the deal.
I suppose those are positives for Tucker, but I don’t care about him.
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.
None of this makes any sense. If you're going to pay $60 million to $100 million to someone to get him out of your company when you only owe them less than $20 million under the terms of his contract (Carlson's current contract of $20M/year expires at the end of this year, from what I've seen), then you can be damn sure there are going to be some key conditions that are very much in Fox's favor.
Tucker has become too big for Fox Snooze. He’s now an entity unto himself similar to Rush.
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