Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson announced Tuesday afternoon he will return to primetime news with a show on Twitter, just over two weeks after the longtime host—who has become a controversial figure for peddling unfounded theories about the 2020 election—was suddenly dropped by the right-wing network after it settled a defamation case with Dominion Voting Systems.
Two weeks after Fox News parted ways with Tucker Carlson, the former top-rated anchor announced the return of his show.
Key Facts
Carlson announced his return of his show in a video on Twitter, saying there are “limits” in the stories that can be told on TV, and that if you “bump up against those limits often enough you will be fired for it,” saying, “That’s not a guess, that’s guaranteed.”
In the video, Carlson called Twitter the “last big” platform that permits “free speech.”
Fox Corp announced two weeks ago it agreed to part ways with Carlson, the network’s top-rated anchor, after 14 years at the company.
Carlson’s contract with Fox, which runs through 2025, could prevent him from taking his show to other networks, with his attorney Bryan Freedman saying earlier this week that it would be “beyond preposterous” for the company to keep Carlson from speaking to his audience.
The comment, made in an interview with Axios, was widely seen as a warning shot from Carlson to Fox, amid speculation Carlson had been approached by right-wing news outlets Newsmax, the Daily Wire and One America News for a primetime slot, as well as video platform Rumble, the New York Times and Axios reported.
Fox had not yet commented on whether it intends to try and keep Carlson in his contract.
Big Number
$15 Million – $20 Million. That’s how much Carlson earned each year with Fox News, making him one of the highest-paid TV hosts in the country, a person familiar with the 53-year-old’s contract told Forbes.
Tangent
Twitter’s billionaire owner Elon Musk tweeted Tuesday “we have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever,” but Carlson could earn revenue from subscriptions and advertising on the platform. “Tucker is subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators,” Musk said.
Key Background
Fox executives informed Carlson on April 24 that his final show with the network had already aired the previous Friday, keeping Carlson from addressing his audience directly on TV about his departure. In the week following the show’s sudden end, more details emerged as to why the network decided to move in a separate direction: The Washington Post reported it stemmed from disparaging comments he made about network management, while the Los Angeles Times reported the decision was the result of a gender-based discrimination lawsuit filed by a former producer.
This story was first published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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