The right-leaning television network severed ties with its most popular host in April
Tucker Carlson discusses ‘Populism and the Right’ during the National Review Institute’s Ideas Summit at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel March 29, 2019 in Washington, DC © Getty Images / Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Fox News has issued Tucker Carlson a legal demand to stop posting videos to his personal Twitter account, Axios reported on Monday, in what is the latest chapter in an acrimonious split between the broadcasting giant and its former top-rated television personality.
Carlson, who parted ways with Fox News in April, has been publishing watered-down versions of his ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’ show to Twitter since shortly after his departure from the network. But according to Fox, doing so violates the terms of his still-existing contract with the network, which runs until early 2025.
“Doubling down on the most catastrophic programming decision in the history of the cable news industry, Fox is now demanding that Tucker Carlson be silent until after the 2024 election,” Carlson’s lawyer, Harmeet K. Dhillon, said in response. “Tucker will not be silenced by anyone.”
A spokesperson for Fox News did not comment when contacted by US media.
The first episode of ‘Tucker on Twitter’ debuted online on June 6 and has received almost 115 million views as of Monday. A second episode followed two days later, which saw the viewership figures roughly halved. A third is expected to debut online on Tuesday and will feature Carlson’s thoughts on Donald Trump’s recent federal indictment.
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Fox News removed Carlson from his show in April, bringing the curtain down on its most-popular primetime show and effectively silencing a television host who many considered a mouthpiece for certain sections of conservative America.
The decision by the Fox brass swiftly followed the network settling a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million, after it was accused of repeatedly peddling mistruths about unproven claims of voter fraud in the 2020 US presidential election – including on Carlson’s show.
It also emerged that Carlson had sent vulgar text messages about Fox News staff and that he had allegedly fostered a sexist working environment on the set of ‘Tucker Carlson Tonight’.
However, Carlson remains an employee of Fox News unless it decides to cancel his contract. He remains on the network’s payroll. The network’s prime time ratings have dipped by approximately one-third since his show was taken off the air, the New York Times reported on Monday.
The same publication also cited sources close to Carlson as saying that there is a belief that his new social media show is protected under the terms of the First Amendment right to free speech in the US Constitution.
