Tucker Carlson Declares War on Fox News With Brutal Letter Threatening Legal Action
AP Photo/Seth Wenig
Ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson reportedly sent the network a list of demands on Tuesday in a document that also accused Fox of “fraud and breach of contract” that “could precede legal action,” according to Axios.
Axios’s Mike Allen and Sara Fischer reported that the “aggressive letter” from Carlson’s lawyers to Fox “positions Carlson to argue that the noncompete provision in his contract is no longer valid — freeing him to launch his own competing show or media enterprise.”
The letter was reportedly sent before Carson released a clip to Twitter on Tuesday in which he announced he would bring “a new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter.”
Carlson, whose time at Fox News was marred by scandal after scandal, accused the media of lying to the public in the clip. “At the most basic level, the news you consume is a lie. A lie of the stealthy, highest and most insidious kind. Facts have been withheld on purpose, along with proportion and perspective,” Carlson declared before calling Elon Musk’s Twitter one of the only true “free speech” platforms left.
Axios explained the impact of Carlson’s demands and attack on Fox, noting, “The Twitter move would seem to technically violate Carlson’s contract with Fox, but his lawyers’ letter effectively holds that Fox breached the contract first.”
The letter reportedly accuses Fox and executives of breaking promises to Carlson, including “Rupert Murdoch himself,” who the letter says mislead Carlson “intentionally and with reckless disregard for the truth.”
Additionally, Axios reported, “The letter alleges Fox broke an agreement with Carlson not to leak his private communications to the media and not to use Carlson’s private messages ‘to take any adverse employment action against him.'” The letter also reportedly claims that Fox broke a promise not to settle the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case “in a way which would indicate wrongdoing” on by Carlson.
Puck’s Dylan Byers tweeted about Carlson’s move to Twitter and noted, “Tucker Carlson will relaunch his show *on Twitter* with help from former Fox News staff. He will forgo at least $25 million owed to him by Fox Corp. in order to break non-compete clause.” Notably, Carlson’s longtime senior executive producer, Justin Wells, was also fired when Carlson was let go by Fox News and is likely to be a part of his new show.
Carlson’s Fox contract expires in January of 2025 and the network has reportedly been working to “sideline” him with an offer to pay the flame-throwing host $20 million a year not to work, added Mike Allen in a report on Sunday. Additionally, Carlson reportedly received offers from both Newsmax and Rumble, both to the right of Fox News, for sums greater than what was left on his Fox contract.
Fox News did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
