Tucker Carlson and Fox News have agreed to part ways, the network said Monday. The news came less than an hour before CNN announced that it has split with longtime host Don Lemon.“Mr. Carlson’s last program was Friday April 21st. Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 PM/ET starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating Fox News personalities until a new host is named,” the network announced.Carlson’s exit comes less than a week after Fox News agreed to pay $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems to settle the election software company’s defamation claim. Carlson was to be among the witnesses to testify if the case had come to trial.A Fox News spokesperson declined to comment on what triggered Carlson’s exit. A host for tonight’s Fox News Tonight has not yet been named.Harris Faulkner announced the move on Fox News Channel, saying: “We have some news from within our Fox family. Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have mutually agreed to part ways. Tucker’s last show was this past Friday. … We want to thank Tucker Carlson for his service to the network as host and prior to that as a long-term contributor.”Carlson was Fox News’ most watched personality, making his exit all the more surprising, but he also was its most controversial host. Even after the network faced litigation over its post-2020 election coverage, Carlson continued to suggested that the vote in the presidential race between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was not legitimate.He drew a fervent following for his commentary, night after night, that played on grievances of the Fox News audience. Some of the biggest outcry over his show came after he aired security footage of the attack on the Capitol on January 6 and, using selective clips, suggested that rioters were “sightseers.” His characterization drew condemnation not just from Democrats but Capitol Police and Senate Republicans.Carlson had been with the network since 2009, first as a commentator and then, starting in 2016, Tucker Carlson Tonight. He also hosted a signature show for Fox Nation, the network’s subscription streaming service, as well as a branded series of documentaries called Tucker Carlson Originials.But his influence extended beyond the Fox News audience to the Republican party. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy agreed to provide he and his producers access to the January 6th footage, rather than a wide release to news outlets, while Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) went on his show to contritely take back a remark that the siege of the Capitol was a terrorist attack.The Dominion Vs. Fox litigation primarily focused on other Fox personalities like Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro and Lou Dobbs and the way that they and their guests amplified claims that the 2020 election was rigged. But as the trial date approached, a trove of internal texts and emails were made public, a number of them embarrassing to Carlson and the network. In one, Carlson lamented that a newsside reporter, Jacqui Heinrich, had fact-checked and debunked a Trump tweet about election fraud. Carlson wrote to host Sean Hannity, “please get her fired.”“Seriously…What the f?” Carlson wrote. “I’m actually shocked…It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.”In another message, Carlson wrote that he hated Donald Trump “passionately.” In recent weeks, though, Carlson devoted a show to a friendly interview with the former president, his first TV sit down since being indicted in New York.The email release also revealed friction between Carlson and the news side, as well as some in management. That included criticism of Irena Briganti, the longtime head of corporate communications, and exchanges with fellow hosts Hannity and Laura Ingraham in which they lamented some of the network’s news personalities.“We devote our lives to building an audience and they let Chris Wallace and Leland f-ing Vittert wreck it. Too much,” Carlson wrote in a November, 2020 exchange. Wallace and Vittert both left the network.Carlson’s comments seemed designed to create a furor, something that only seemed to add to his following. In 2021, the Anti-Defamation League called for him to be fired over his advocacy of the great replacement theory, a conspiracy theory on the far right and among white nationalists that elites are plotting to replace whites with immigrants. The network originally said that he was merely addressing a voting rights question, and Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch defended him. Carlson, though, continued to make the replacement theory claims on his show.But his persona perplexed many who knew him in Washington, where he had been based, as he was much more a creature of the mainstream media establishment, having previously hosted shows on CNN and MSNBC.Carlson’s exit was met with quick reaction from political figures and celebrities who have long found him toxic.“After all Tucker’s lies and defamation, it’s about time,” Liz Cheney, the former Wyoming congresswoman and vice chair of the January 6th Committee, wrote on Twitter.On The View, when Whoopi Goldberg announced his exit, the audience applauded wildly. The hosts did a sporting event wave, and Ana Navarro began singing, Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey, goodbye.
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