Los Angeles: Tucker Carlson, the now-former Fox News primetime host and also a rumoured presidential hopeful, used to deride attempts by his critics to get his show cancelled. “Trust me, it’s a constant assault. It’s a never-ending effort to take us off the air,” he told ‘Variety’ in 2020.
On Monday, as ‘Variety’ reports, the popular conservative pundit and 2020 US election denier found he should have been watching his back.
Rupert Murdoch, chairman of Fox News’ corporate parent, according to a person familiar with the matter, decided he could no longer support Carlson.
His son, Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch, and Suzanne Scott, CEO of Fox News Media, made the decision to cut ties with Carlson on Friday, ‘Variety’ reports, quoting a different person familiar with the circumstances. Carlson’s exit was announced Monday morning.
Carlson, Fox News Channel’s most-watched primetime host, will leave the network in an abrupt and surprise exit, creating a sizable hole in its schedule and, to quote ‘Variety’, bringing to an end years of a self-generated battle against, in the host’s own oft-repeated words, lying, pomposity, smugness, and groupthink.
His departure generates dozens of questions as its parent company grapples with pressures resulting from a $787 million settlement it will have to pay to Dominion Voting Systems. The ballot-technology company, notes ‘Variety’, had accused Fox News of defaming it by peddling specious conspiracy theories about its role in the 2020 presidential election.
In another development that has taken the US media by storm, popular CNN anchor Don Lemon announced on social media on Monday that his services have been terminated by the Warner Bros. Discovery network.
“I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned,” Lemon said, according to a ‘Variety’ report.
The last straw for CNN apparently was a combative interaction that Lemon had had with the Indian American Republican Party presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy.
In his social media post, Lemon, who had a $4 million-a-year contract with the network, said: “After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network. It is clear that there are some larger issues at play.”
Lemon, notes ‘Variety’, has been under scrutiny since February, when the remarks he made on CNN’s morning show generated a whirlwind of unwanted publicity.
Lemon suggested Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was past her “prime”, a comment that has, despite multiple apologies from the anchor, continued to hover over him.
‘Variety’ reported earlier this month that the anchor’s behaviour towards women has also been called into question several times over the course of his career.
–IANS