Conservative news personality Tucker Carlson is returning to the airwaves,
but not in the way you might think.
Tucker Carlson was broadcast on Fox News for more than a decade. Then on May 9th,
he announced that he would be producing a brand new independent show on Twitter
after the abrupt end of his cable news program.
The former Fox News powerhouse was ousted by the organization on April 24,
much to his surprise. Even though Carlson has certainly been a controversial figure,
his nightly news show, "Tucker Carlson Tonight," was pulling in the highest total of viewers of
any cable news show before his firing. While the exact cause of his termination remains unknown,
many have pointed to his involvement in the Fox organization's Dominion defamation lawsuit.
While enjoying his post-Fox News "retirement," Carlson hinted to the "Daily Mail" on April
26th that he had something up his sleeve for the future of his career.
Instead of signing a contract with another conservative news organization,
he revealed his plans to begin a brand new show. He explained in a three-minute video
on Twitter that it would be similar to, yet different from the "Tucker Carlson Tonight"
program. He began his online announcement by claiming that just because something can be
"fact-checked" doesn't make something "true," and that mainstream news "manipulates" its viewers.
"The best you can hope for in the news business at this point is the
freedom to tell the fullest truth that you can, but there are always limits."
Carlson explained that he will provide further updates,
but the Twitter website will be the home of his new show. He asserted that,
"Twitter has long served as the place where our national conversation incubates and develops.
Twitter is not a partisan site. Everybody is allowed here, and we think that's a good thing."
There have been recent reports of Carlson attempting to get out of his contract with
Fox News because it includes a non-compete clause that prevents him from signing another contract
with a competing news organization until 2025. The former host will supposedly be losing out
on more than $25 million for breaking his contract with this new Twitter program.
Carlson's lawyers are reportedly fighting against his former employer and alleging
that Fox News compromised the terms of their contract long before the anchor
announced his new social media-based show. Sources revealed to "Axios" on May 9th that
before Carlson's Twitter announcement, his lawyers had sent a letter to executives at
Fox News accusing them of "fraud and breach of contract." The letter included Carlson claiming
that "Rupert Murdoch himself" and other Fox employees did not keep to their word when
they promised him "material representations," which his lawyers argue amounts to fraud. They
went on to assert that the breach of contract came from these "misrepresentations," since
the broken promises supposedly "created additional terms of Carlson's employment."
The former host's legal team further alleged that Fox News had promised Carlson not to implicate
him "in a way which would indicate wrongdoing" in their settlement in the Dominion defamation case,
which the letter claims was breached. The letter finished by saying he is considering litigation
against Fox News. The big question is, do broken promises constitute a breach of contract?
Regardless, one of Carlson's lawyers, Bryan Freedman, insisted in a statement to "Axios"
that his client was determined to get his face back in the news landscape. Freedman stated,
"The idea that anyone is going to silence Tucker and prevent him from
speaking to his audience is beyond preposterous."
While the legal drama continues, Twitter CEO Elon Musk took it upon himself to pull out the welcome
wagon for Tucker Carlson after he announced his Twitter-based news program. Musk has been the
head of the social media company since October 2022 and one of his latest initiatives for the
company is to create a home for news media. A few hours after Carlson uploaded his video,
Musk tweeted his support for the ousted anchor and emphasized Twitter's efforts
to curb "misleading" information on the platform. The Twitter CEO clarified,
"I also want to be clear that we have not signed a deal of any kind
whatsoever. Tucker is subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators.
Rewards means subscriptions and advertising revenue share (coming soon), which is a
function of how many people subscribe and the advertising views associated with the content."
Musk finished by calling upon media companies from both sides of the
political aisle to promote and upload their content to Twitter. He said,
"I hope that many others, particularly from the left,
also choose to be content creators on this platform."