Tucker Carlson, host of the popular 8 p.m. show Tucker Carlson Tonight, and Fox News have parted ways effective immediately. The surprise announcement was made this afternoon by Fox News Media. Carlson’s final show was on Friday, April 21.
“Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” the company said in a terse statement.
Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner announced Carlson’s departure on her program Monday afternoon, saying she had some “news from within our Fox News family,” before reading the channel’s statement on Carlson’s departure.
It’s not clear what spurred Fox News’ decision, but the announcement came just one week after Fox News settled a monstrous defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million over the network’s dissemination of election lies.
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Carlson’s personal texts and emails were made public as part of the defamation suit brought by Dominion Voting Systems. Some of those communications included comments that he “passionately” hated Donald Trump, and comments criticizing Fox’s news-wide journalists.
Carlson’s show launched in 2016 and regularly featured controversial guests and segments on matters of race, immigration and other hot political topics of the day. His show routinely ranked as the most-watched program on Fox News and on some days all of cable TV.
The host had also just signed a new contract with Fox News two years ago. The deal included an expansion of Tucker Carlson’s original programming for the Fox Nation streaming service.
Trump sat for an interview with Carlson earlier this month, his first since being indicted in a New York court.
Carlson clearly had no idea this decision was coming as he signed off Friday, “That’s it for us for the week. We’ll be back on Monday.”
Until a suitable replacement is found, Fox says a rotating slate of guest hosts will fill in at 8 p.m. on a show now called Fox News Tonight.
