Tucker Carlson and Fox News have agreed to part ways, the media company said in a statement on Monday, less than a week after Fox News and parent company Fox Corp FOXA.O settled a defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million.
The settlement averted a trial putting one of the world’s top media companies in the crosshairs over its coverage of false vote-rigging claims in the 2020 U.S. election.
Carlson had been expected to testify in the Dominion trial. Dominion had alleged that statements made on Carlson’s show after the 2020 election were defamatory and that messages between Carlson and his team were proof that he and his team knew the falsehood of claims that Denver-based Dominion’s ballot-counting machines were used to manipulate the election in favour of Democrat Joe Biden.
Carlson previously was a host of Fox News Channel’s cable news program, Tucker Carlson Tonight, which launched in November 2016.
Carlson’s last program was April 21, the company said in a statement. It said that Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 p.m. EST starting Monday evening as an interim show helmed by rotating Fox News personalities until a new host is named.
In the statement, Fox News said, “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”
Source link : CNN