Tucker Carlson is leaving Fox News after nearly a decade as the network’s host.
The network announced his departure on Monday, saying his farewell show would be on April 21st.
‘FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,’ the network statement read.
Harris Faulkner, the show’s host, also announced his departure on air, saying, ‘We have some news from within our Fox family. Tucker Carlson and Fox News Media have amicably agreed to split ways. Tucker’s most recent performance came on Friday.’
In his absence, an interim roster of hosts will take over until a permanent successor is found.
Carlson, who ended his final broadcast on Friday with the words ‘That’s it for us for the week, we’ll be back!’ has yet to respond.
Tucker Carlson is leaving Fox News after nearly a decade as one of the network’s most popular hosts. On April 21, he will appear in his final show.
His departure comes just days after Fox reached a settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, which claimed hosts like Carlson knew President Trump’s election fraud charges were false but pushed them for ratings.
Dominion sued for $1.6 billion and settled for $787 million at the eleventh hour, averting an unpleasant and highly publicized trial in which Carlson and other presenters would have been called as witnesses.
Text conversations in which Carlson declared his ‘passionate’ loathing of President Trump were among the discovery produced before the trial.
Tucker Carlson’s show, Tucker Carlson’s show Tonight was the crown jewel of Fox’s nightly lineup, attracting 3.5 million people each night.
However, a string of recent issues, including the Dominion charges and his own remarks about the January 6 riots, landed him in hotter water than he was used to.
It’s unknown how much time he had remaining on his contract or whether Fox will pay him severance.
A representative did not immediately respond to enquiries from DailyMail.com.
According to a 2020 report by CNN’s Brian Stelter, his compensation is $10 million per year.
Carlson joined Fox as a contributor in 2009, after previously providing conservative commentary on CNN programming.
In 2016, he was granted his own show on the network and rapidly became its most watched host, solidifying his own fan base and reputation for taking some of the most extreme, hard-right viewpoints on cable news.
It has been branded “the most racist show on cable” by liberal media in recent years.
Advertisers boycotted him as he became increasingly contentious, but Fox watched as ratings skyrocketed.
Last week, his Thursday 8pm show drew over 500,000 more people than Fox’s second most-watched host, Sean Hannity, in the 9pm hour.
He founded the conservative news website The Daily Caller in 2010. He sold his ownership three years after being handed his own Fox News show in 2020.
Following the announcement of Carlson’s retirement on Monday, shares of Fox Corp, the parent company of Fox News, plummeted 4%, from $33.71 to $31.86.
Rupert Murdoch has yet to make a statement on his leaving.
In the Dominion papers, Tucker was mostly spared his anger.
In another, the News Corp tycoon suggested Hannity and Laura Ingraham had ‘gone too far’ in their coverage of Trump’s election fraud charges, although Carlson was not addressed.
He has never concealed his contempt for the president.
Carlson labelled him’shocking’ and ‘vulgar’ in a 2016 Politico article. He frequently refused to have him on his show, instead interviewing him on occasion during Trump’s presidency.
Conservatives were eager to express their sorrow.
Tucker Carlson
Steve Bannon, on his podcast show, said: ‘Tucker was the mainstay of the populist voice over at Fox.
‘The reason to watch Fox, you’ve got Maria (Bartiromo) in the morning, Jesse (Watters), he is getting there, but Tucker’s really the reason.
‘With this, I don’t know any reason to watch the Murdoch empire.’
Donald Trump Jr. tweeted: ‘Tucker Carlson out at Fox News. OMG.’
While conservatives mourned him, liberals like those at The View celebrated the announcement gleefully.
Whoopi Goldberg announced the news, before Ana Navarro – one of the panel’s few Republican hosts – led the audience in a chant of ‘hey, hey, hey, goodbye!’
Carlson’s departure from Fox wasn’t the only news that shook the media this morning.
CNN’s Chris Licht announced the resignation of embattled personality Don Lemon from the network shortly after his ouster was announced.
Lemon was chastised for a number of s*xist remarks and acted on CNN’s new This Morning show.
