Tucker Carlson is ousted from Fox News: Was a sexism lawsuit the reason behind it?

“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.”

With this short statement, US news media conglomerate, Fox News – owned by Rupert Murdoch – announced the exit of the prime-time star and face of the news outlet. It is said that Carlson’s last day as host was Friday, 21 April.

Carlson’s departure puts an end to a decade-plus tenure at the conservative news network during which he rose to become the highest-rated host in prime-time cable news.

The network said that Carlson’s program at 8 pm ET will be hosted by a rotation of personalities until the selection of a new permanent host. On Monday night, the Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade anchored the show and in his opening remarks, Kilmeade acknowledged Carlson’s departure and said he was “great friends with Tucker.”

Carlson’s ouster from the network came directly from 92-year-old Fox owner Rupert Murdoch, reported the Los Angeles Times.

But what exactly caused his ouster from the media house? We take a deep dive into Carlson’s exit from the network and what it means for Fox.

Tucker out!

After receiving directions from Rupert Murdoch, Fox Corp CEO Lachlan Murdoch and Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott made the decision to fire Carlson on Friday evening, according to the Washington Post.

Carlson was informed 10 minutes before his ouster was announced. In fact, he and his team had spent the weekend working on their plans for summer shows, reported The Washington Post. The network was still running promos for Carlson’s show Monday morning.

Carlson, who was promoted to the prime-time lineup in early 2017 after Donald Trump’s inauguration, quickly emerged as one of Fox News’ biggest names. His program became a must-watch for conservatives during the presidency of Donald Trump.

Also read: Tucker Carlson claims British civilised India: The many controversies of man with the ‘most racist show’ on cable news

Unsurprisingly, his ouster was big news across the United States on Monday night, with other media channels and platforms discussing it. On ABC’s The View, Whoopi Goldberg’s announcement drew cheers from the audience. On Real America’s Voice, a right-wing streaming and cable channel, Donald Trump Jr expressed shock over Fox’s decision but speculated about Carlson emerging as an even more powerful voice in Republican politics.

Megyn Kelly, a former Fox host who now has a podcast and radio program, said, “I predict Tucker goes independent. Tucker launches a podcast or digital show and crushes it. Absolutely crushes it.”

And while many expressed shock at Carlson’s ouster, there was a lot tumult unfolding off the air which may have contributed to his ouster. His exit comes just a week after the network settled a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems and agreed to pay a whopping $787.5 million.

In fact, several of Carlson’s internal communications featured in the defamation filings, showing how much he hated Trump and also called Sidney Powell, a lawyer for the former US president who was spreading false election information, a liar.

The sexism lawsuit

But it wasn’t just the Dominion case or even his derogatory remarks toward other network executives. There was also a lawsuit filed by a now former female producer, who called the network a “toxic place” and “subjugates women based on vile sexist stereotypes, typecasts religious minorities and belittles their traditions, and demonstrates little to no regard for those suffering from mental illness.”

Abby Grossberg, who booked top talent for Tucker Carlson Tonight before she was fired earlier this year — filed a complaint in a New York federal court on 20 March. One of her complaints was that she was “intimidated” and “coached” her into providing misleading testimony in the Dominion lawsuit in order to shift the blame to her and other Fox host Maria Bartiromo.

Her allegations took particular aim at Tucker Carlson. She stated in her lawsuit, which also names Fox and other individuals, “Mr. Carlson’s derogatory comments towards women, and his disdain for those who dare to object to such misogyny, is well known on the set” of his show.

Highlighting one such episode, she stated in her complaint that on her first full day with Carlson’s programme, she was greeted “by many large and blown-up photographs of Nancy Pelosi in a plunging bathing suit revealing her cleavage” plastered on her computer and throughout the office.

On her second day, she alleged that Carlson’s producer Justin Wells asked her if her previous boss, Maria Bartiromo, had ever had sex with Kevin McCarthy, the Republican House Speaker. Grossberg said her colleagues joked about the attractiveness of women politicians and, in one instance, recounted hearing one co-worker call a Republican congresswoman “fat” and implied she only got her job by sleeping with her predecessor.

She also accused her former colleagues on Tucker Carlson Tonight of making anti-Semitic remarks and frequently speaking crudely and disparagingly about women.

Reacting to Carlson’s ouster, Grossberg said it was “great for America!” “This is a step towards accountability for the election lies and baseless conspiracy theories spread by Fox News, something I witnessed first-hand at the network, as well as for the abuse and harassment I endured while head of booking and senior producer for Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Grossberg said in a statement. “I think this is great for America! It’s a big win for viewers of cable news, not just those who watch Fox.”

“This is some justice for the American people and the Fox News viewers who’ve been manipulated and lied to for years, all in an attempt to boost the channel’s ratings and revenue,” she added.

What comes next

In the first 22 minutes after Carlson’s ouster was announced, Fox Corporation stock lost 5.2 per cent of its value.

But besides the monetary loss, there was a question that everyone seemed to be asking: what does this mean for Fox and for Carlson? Many wonder that with Fox removing Carlson, it may move more to the right in order to keep its audience from straying.

And what about Carlson? He now has the honour of been cancelled by all three major cable news networks. Before Fox, he had a long run as a co-host of CNN’s Crossfire, and later headlined a show at MSNBC.

But as news emerged of his exit, the job offers weren’t drying up. And perhaps, the most interesting of them came from Russian state-backed media channel, RT. It tweeted, “Hey @TuckerCarlson. You can always question more with @RT_com.”

With inputs from agencies

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.