It appears that this is not directly related to the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit, but rather to the lawsuit by former staffer Abby Grossberg, which presented very credible allegations (she literally has tapes) that Carlson his executive producer (who was also fired) created a remarkably hostile workplace.
There were also accusations that Fox News lawyers attempted to suborn perjury from for the aforementioned defamation trial.
Fox News dropped Tucker Carlson, its controversial yet top-rated prime-time host, on Monday — a sudden and surprise parting with one of the most influential voices in Republican politics, who had helped define the network’s bombastic tone in the Trump era.
His firing came less than a week after Fox settled a defamation lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems, which had sued the network for airing false claims that it had conspired to rig the 2020 presidential election, for $787.5 million — the largest publicly disclosed monetary settlement ever in an American defamation action.
Though Carlson largely avoided trafficking in those specific conspiracy theories, his private messages were among thousands of internal communications made public during its progress through the courts that caused angst and embarrassment for Fox and heightened the company’s legal jeopardy.
More recently, Carlson’s staff culture had come under scrutiny, after a former booker for his show sued Fox News for discrimination, claiming that she endured sexist treatment while working for him, and messages revealed in the lawsuit showed Carlson referring to Sidney Powell, a female attorney affiliated with Donald Trump, as a “c---.”
But Carlson’s comments about Fox colleagues, as partly revealed in the Dominion case, also played a role in his departure, a person familiar with the company’s thinking told The Washington Post.
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In another message, Carlson referred to management with an expletive: “Those f-----s are destroying our credibility.” He later wrote: “A combination of incompetent liberals and top leadership with too much pride to back down is what’s happening.”
Carlson, who works from a remote studio in Maine, did not respond to repeated messages asking for comment on his departure — which came an hour before rival cable network CNN ousted longtime host Don Lemon.
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Notably, Carlson was not given a chance to say goodbye to the audience he had amassed in his years as a prime-time host. His executive producer, Justin Wells, is also leaving the network, according to a person familiar with the changes.
According to Keith Olbermann, Rupert Murdoch made the call to fire him personally, and I am inclined to favor that account.
In any case, I am very amused.
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