Tucker Carlson Sends Video to CPAC Hungary: 'If I Ever Get Fired...'
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson told a crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Hungary in a pre-recorded video link that he would have attended the event "if I ever get fired and have some time."
Carlson appeared on Thursday morning during the first day of the event at the Budapest Bálna [Whale] conference center in the eastern European country's capital city at the start of of a "No Woke Zone" panel discussion.
During his video link appearance, which appeared to have been filmed in his old Fox News studio in New York, Carlson said he wished he could be present in person but is currently too busy with his job to attend—a message which would have been recorded before he and Fox "agreed to part ways" from his primetime show.
"Greetings to CPAC Hungary and all you Americans in the audience. You are very brave. You've landed up on one of [administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development] Samantha Power's list, the State Department is keeping track, you went to a forbidden country," Carlson said.
"I wish I was there in Budapest. If I ever get fired and have some time and can leave, I will be there with you. But in the meantime, Godspeed, we are thinking of you and cheering you on."
Tucker left his Fox News show on April 24, with no official reason given for why the company let their most-watched anchor go.
The decision was made six days after Fox settled with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million rather than head to what was a hotly anticipated defamation trial.
Dominion was seeking $1.6 billion in damages from Fox, alleging the company damaged its reputation by repeatedly amplifying false claims that Dominion machines were used to rig ballots in favor of Joe Biden over Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
On Tuesday, The New York Times first reported that Fox board's set off a chain of events that resulted in Carlson getting fired after being made aware of a text message acquired during the discovery process of Dominion Voting Systems' defamation lawsuit.
The text, which Carlson sent one of his producers one day after the January 6 attack in 2021, revealed the host discussing how he had watched a video showing at least three "Trump guys" beating an "Antifa kid." Carlson goes on to state that "jumping a guy" is "dishonorable" and "not how white men fight."
Carlson went on to describe in the text how he was "rooting for the mob" against the man being attacked, "hoping they'd hit him harder, kill him," before being dismayed in himself at this reaction.
Fox's board was reportedly concerned about the text becoming public when Carlson testified in the Dominion defamation trial. The company's board told Fox executives that it planned to retain a law firm to investigate Carlson's behavior.
Newsweek previously contacted Fox News via email, and Carlson via social media, for comment on The New York Times report but did not receive a response.
The Washington Post previously reported that Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch was growing concerned about Carlson's far-right commentary on his Fox News show, with the decision to let him go said to have been taken by the 92-year-old's son, Fox Corp Chief Executive Lachlan Murdoch, and Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott.
This is the second time that Hungary has hosted a CPAC event, with the country's populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán also previously speaking when the right-wing conference was held in Dallas, Texas, in August 2022.
Other Republican figures set to appear at this year's CPAC Hungary include former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, Donald Trump's ex-chief of staff Mark Meadows, Arizona congressman Paul Gosar, and former Pennsylvania U.S. Senator Rick Santorum.
