Tucker Carlson’s fate was sealed on the eve of last week’s defamation trial, when senior Fox News executives learned at the 11th hour exactly what he had been saying about them behind their backs, according to multiple reports.
The messages, shown to the board and senior executives for the first time, were even more critical of bosses than those which were made public in the lead-up to the court case with Dominion Voting Systems, reports The New York Times.
The publication also claims to have new video of Carlson, off-camera, discussing whether his ‘postmenopausal fans’ will approve of how he looks on air and describing another woman he finds ‘yummy.’
The texts given to top brass led to a breaking point between the network’s number one rating host and the Murdochs, who feared if they were released during the trial could cause irreparable damage, reports The Times.
By the time they became aware of the abusive messages, Lachlan Murdoch – Rupert Murdoch’s 51-year-old son and CEO of Fox Corporation – had already authorized negotiators to increase a settlement offer with Dominion, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Tucker Carlson, seen on Wednesday night addressing the ‘braindead’ leaders of the United States, and the ‘silencing’ of dissent. He was taken off air
Carlson’s firing is said to have been ordered by Rupert Murdoch and executed by Lachlan Murdoch (left), the CEO of Fox Corporation
Carlson was seen on Tuesday night with his wife Susan, driving a golf cart to dinner near their Florida home
On April 18, the settlement was agreed for $787.5 million.
Carlson’s termination was set in stone by the Murdochs and Suzanne Scott, the CEO of Fox News, on April 21, three days before the host was informed and the decision became public.
On Wednesday night, Carlson posted a video discussing in oblique terms the circumstances surrounding his firing: in a sign of his enduring popularity, the video was viewed 30 million times in the first five hours.
The video was set live just after 8pm Eastern Time – the same as his old Fox News time slot.
Fox News has seen its ratings drop during Carlson’s former segment. On Tuesday, the network’s viewership among the 25-54 demographic fell to its lowest for a non-holiday Tuesday audience since before the September 11 attacks.
The former Fox News anchor’s private messages were discovered as part of the defamation suit filed by Dominion Voting Systems – which Carlson, other anchors and guests accused of rigging the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden.
The messages which were leaked had already caused embarrassment to Fox News executives but were nowhere as vulgar as the ones they were shown on the eve of the trial.
They showed Carlson attacking his bosses over the decision to call the election for Biden when the results were confirmed and others admitting that the claims made about vote rigging were farcical.
Some on the board suggested using an outside law firm to investigate Carlson, so worried were they that the damage done by his behavior could spread.
Carlson tells a colleague the day after the election was called for Joe Biden: ‘Do the executives understand how much credibility and trust we’ve lost with our audience?’
In another, he said: ‘Those f****** 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 vented his fury to his producer Justin Wells – who was also fired on Monday.
‘We’re playing with fire, for real … an alternative like Newsmax could be devastating to us,’ he said.
On November 9, 2020, he told Scott, the CEO, he was alarmed by the fall in ratings after the network two days earlier called the election for Biden.
‘I’ve never seen a reaction like this, to any media company. Kills me to watch it,’ Carlson said.
Suzanne Scott, the CEO of Fox News, called Carlson on Monday to fire him. Carlson raged at the decision to call the election for Biden in a November 9, 2020 text message to her
Tucker Carlson Tonight ran from 2016 until 2023, and regularly attracted more than three million viewers a night
Carlson is known to have privately referred to Sidney Powell, one of Donald Trump’s lawyers who was claiming that Dominion rigged the election, as a ‘c***’.
He used the same term to describe a top executive at Fox News, The Wall Street Journal reported. The paper, like Fox, is owned by Rupert Murdoch.
Carlson has not commented on his messages – and even the redacted ones may yet be made public. The New York Times, The Associated Press and National Public Radio have challenged the redactions.
Furthermore, the network is facing another defamation trial – this one filed by Smartmatic, a second voting machine company allegedly smeared by hosts and guests.
Carlson’s messages, which were not the only factor in his firing but played a large part, are likely to feature heavily in Smartmatic’s case.
Just weeks before the trial was due to begin, lawyers went to Carlson to tell him, with relief, that they had successfully argued for his most vicious messages about the executives to be redacted, according to the Journal.
But instead of being pleased, Carlson was irritated.
A source told The Wall Street Journal that the 53-year-old wanted his feelings about the executive to be made public.
Meade Cooper, the executive vice president of programing. She was told by Carlson of Jacqui Heinrich’s tweet in which she fact-checked Donald Trump – a tweet which infuriated Carlson
Carlson became a household name through Tucker Carlson Tonight, which became Fox News’s flagship show
Carlson was not the only Fox figure angry at the decision to call the election, but he was among the most passionate.
In a group text sent on November 12, Sean Hannity wrote to Carlson and Laura Ingraham: ‘In one week and one debate they destroyed a brand that took 25 years to build and the damage is incalculable.’
Carlson replied, ‘It’s vandalism.’
Later that night, Carlson pointed Hannity to a tweet by Fox reporter Jacqui Heinrich, which fact-checked a tweet by Trump that mentioned Dominion voting conspiracy theories.
‘There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised,’ she wrote.
Carlson texted Hannity and Ingraham: ‘Please get her fired. Seriously … What the f***? I’m actually shocked. It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.’
Carlson said he raised Heinrich’s factually accurate tweet with Meade Cooper, the executive vice president of programing.
‘I just went crazy on Meade over it,’ Carlson wrote.
Heinrich, according to the Times, deleted her offending tweet, though she posted a nearly identical fact-check of Trump afterwards.
Carlson, 53, was ousted by Fox News on Monday. He was not given a reason for his ouster, but was reportedly told it was a decision made ‘from above’
Rupert Murdoch, seen in November 2019, is considering selling Fox News, sources told DailyMail.com, and felt the network was more attractive to buyers without Carlson
Producer Abby Grossberg filed a lawsuit against Fox that detailed specific claims about Carlson’s show
Grossberg tweeted that Carlson’s departure is ‘great for America’
Fox did not give any reason for the departure of their most-watched news anchor, saying on Monday: ‘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.’
Abby Grossberg, a former top booker for his show, has sued Carlson and Fox for a hostile workplace, sexual harassment and other alleged wrongs.
She claimed she was ‘coerced, intimidated, and misinformed’ while preparing for her deposition in the $1.6 billion Dominion defamation case.
Grossberg added that she was discriminated against as a woman at Fox, ‘overworked, undervalued, denied opportunities for promotion’ and subjected to ‘vile sexist stereotypes.’
She told DailyMail.com that Carlson’s firing looked to her like an ‘admission’ of guilty by the network.
‘This is a step towards accountability for the election lies and baseless conspiracy theories spread by Fox News, something I witnessed firsthand at the network, as well as for the abuse and harassment I endured while Head of Booking and Senior Producer for Tucker Carlson Tonight,’ she tweeted.
‘I think this is great for America! It’s a big win for viewers of cable news, not just those who watch Fox.’
Another legal row is on the horizon.
A January 6 protestor, Ray Epps, has written a legal letter to Carlson demanding an on-air apology after Carlson claimed he was a FBI informant, sent to the Capitol to whip up the riot and discredit Donald Trump.
A further reason for his firing is believed to be the fact that advertisers were increasingly shunning Carlson’s show due to his provocative statements – such as claiming that the January 6 rioters were tourists.
Carlson on Wednesday night delivered a blistering verdict on the state of modern America, without referring directly to his firing – other than noting that he had been able to ‘step outside the noise for a few days’.
Speaking two days after he was fired from his position as America’s most-watched cable news host, Carlson addressed his fans in a two-minute video that was posted to Twitter, and spoke cryptically about being silenced.
He declared the country was looking ‘very much like a one-party state’, where the ‘people in charge’ were silencing debate and becoming ‘hysterical and aggressive’ because ‘they’re afraid’.
He said America’s ruling class has ‘given up persuasion: they are resorting to force.’ But, he insisted, the ‘honest people’ would ultimately win.
‘The liars who have been trying to silence them shrink, and they become weaker,’ he said.
‘That’s the iron law of the universe: true things prevail.’