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Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has broken his silence after his unceremonious exit from Fox News.
His brief statement came after he was informed by Politico that officials with the Department of Defense celebrated his departure from Fox News.
“Ha! I’m sure,” he said when informed that Pentagon officials were thrilled with his departure from the network.
Politico reported: “From maternity flight suits to diversity policies to Ukraine aid, the military was a favorite punching bag for Tucker Carlson. Now that he’s off the air, some Pentagon officials are quietly cheering his departure. Carlson’s criticism of Biden-era personnel policies appealed to many of the rank-and-file, which has a large bloc of conservative members. But at the upper levels of the Defense Department, news of Carlson’s firing from Fox News on Monday was met with delight and outright glee in some corners.”
“We’re a better country without him bagging on our military every night in front of hundreds of thousands of people,” said one senior DoD official, who like others interviewed for this story was granted anonymity to discuss a politically sensitive topic.
“Good riddance,” said a second DoD official.
As far as Fox News, the network is paying a price for not having Carlson on its 8 PM show anymore.
Not only was Carlson the network’s ratings king, but he managed to pull record numbers of the key 25-54-year-old demographic that is so important to advertisers.
On the first night a fill-in host replaced him in the time slot, however, that key demo abandoned the network in droves, according to the latest viewership figures.
Show Buzz Daily data show that Carlson’s replacement program, hosted by anchor Brian Kilmeade, “garnered fewer ratings in the key age demo on its first night compared to Carlson’s average a week prior on Monday, April 17,” The Daily Caller reported.
According to the data, the program received a rating of 0.24 in the 25-54 age group, whereas Carlson’s show earned a rating of 0.37 in the same demographic on April 17th. In terms of total viewership, the program had an average of almost 2.6 million viewers, which is lower than Carlson’s show on Monday, which had an average of approximately 3.7 million viewers.
Cable News Rankings Mon Apr 24
1⃣@TheFive @DanaPerino @GregGutfeld @JudgeJeanine @HaroldFordJr @JasonInTheHouse*
2⃣@Maddow
3⃣@Kilmeade*
4⃣@SeanHannity
5⃣@JessePrimetime @WillCain*
6⃣@BretBaier
7⃣@IngrahamAngle
8⃣@NicolleDWallace
9⃣@AriMelber
🔟@GutfeldFox! pic.twitter.com/XI7MP5SXSz— RoadMN 📈 (@RoadMN) April 25, 2023
When it aired on Friday, April 21, Carlson’s final episode drew in a total of 2.65 million viewers, surpassing the viewership of CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” and MSNBC’s “All In With Chris Hayes.” According to Adweek, in 2022, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” ranked second in total cable news viewership with 3.3 million viewers in total. The program’s ratings were second only to Fox News’ non-primetime program, “The Five.”
“Fox News has consistently dominated cable news in ratings in recent years, prevailing over its main competitors CNN and MSNBC. Carlson’s show repeatedly topped the network’s shows by exceeding multi-million total viewership,” The Daily Caller noted further.
Fox News itself has not explained its decision to move on from Carlson, though there has been much speculation.
“Carlson has told people he doesn’t know why he was terminated. According to the source, Scott refused to tell him how the decision was made; she only said that it was made ‘from above.’ Carlson has told people he believes his controversial show is being taken off the air because the Murdoch children intend to sell Fox News at some point,” Vanity Fair reported.
The New York Times, meanwhile, allegedly quoted “sources” who said Carlson rankled colleagues, was unpopular inside the Fox News world, and regularly touched on subjects like the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that made upper management uncomfortable.
Interestingly, Carlson and longtime CNN figure Don Lemon were both fired on the same day, within hours of each other. Both also have retained the same industry powerhouse lawyer in an expectation they will file legal action against their old employers.
“Neither host has announced a lawsuit or dispute against their employers. But the litigator they’ve retained — Bryan Freedman — has a record of helping TV hosts secure millions from their old networks. Former CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter reported that both Carlson and Lemon are retaining Freedman’s services, while The New York Times also wrote that Lemon had hired Freedman,” Business Insider reported on Tuesday.
“Messy media breakups are a staple for Freedman, famed for aggressively representing a laundry list of the entertainment world’s most prominent figures. His clients include Vin Diesel, Quentin Tarantino, and Mariah Carey. Freedman previously worked to help former host Megyn Kelly secure around $30 million from NBC News after she parted ways with the network in 2019. Kelly was fired halfway through her three-year contract worth $69 million, but NBC agreed to pay her the remainder of her original salary,” the outlet added.
