OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
One Fox News personality has gotten some good news as the network deals with the fallout from cutting ties with top-rated host Tucker Carlson. While the situation hasn’t been great for Carlson or Fox News, it has been historic for popular co-host Greg Gutfeld.
Just this month, Gutfeld announced a brand new book and both shows that he is part of — “The Five” and “Gutfeld!” — are dominating in the cable news ratings. Gutfeld is also reportedly heading to primetime amid a shake-up at the network.
The popular host also just announced a new book, titled, “The King of Late Night,” which will be released July 25, and details how Gutfeld “destroyed the mainstream late-night landscape of heavyweights and became the host of the #1 late night show in all of television.”
As of now, Gutfeld appears to be the undisputed top host at Fox News in terms of viewership.
“The Five” remains one of the most popular shows in all of cable news and his late-night comedy show “Gutfeld!” has been racking up historic numbers.
On Tuesday night, “The Five” was the most-watched show on all of cable news with a whopping 2.80 million total views. In the same 5 PM ET timeslot, CNN’s “Lead with Jake Tapper” brought in a dismal 516,000 total viewers, and Newsmax’s “Carl Higbie Frontline” had 311,000.
Fox News has been hit with a slew of rumors again this week about its primetime line-up.
The network was forced to release a statement on Wednesday night clarifying that host Laura Ingraham has not been fired despite claims that circulated across social media.
“Reports based on various tweets by left-wing activists are wildly inaccurate – Laura Ingraham, the top-rated woman in cable news, is now and will continue to be a prominent host and integral part of the Fox News lineup,” Fox News said in a statement, via Mediaite.
The rumors about Ingraham began on Wednesday afternoon after news aggregator Matt Drudge shared a scoop detailing how Fox News will make a big shake-up following Tucker Carlson’s departure from the network.
According to Drudge, the network will move longtime host Sean Hannity to take over the 8 p.m. time slot.
“WORLD EXCLUSIVE: FOXNEWS SETS NEW SCHEDULE” read the headline from Drudge, who noted Hannity’s new time slot as well as reports that both Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld would be heading to prime time.
“Watters currently hosts one of Fox’s top-rated shows at 7 p.m. while Gutfeld hosts a highly-rated late-night show at 11 p.m. — both co-host Fox’s top-rated program The Five at 5 p.m. Hannity, meanwhile, broke the record for longest-running cable news prime time host in April of 2022, eclipsing Larry King at 25 years, six months, and 15 days,” Mediaite reported.
“FOXNEWS is preparing to announce an ambitious new schedule, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, a schedule where ever hour of primetime will change!” Drudge reported. “TOP SOURCE TELLS DRUDGE: ‘IT’S OUR BOLDEST AND MOST FEARLESS LINE-UP EVER’…”
A spokesperson for Fox News issues a statement to Mediaite regarding Drudge’s report by saying: “No decision has been made on a new primetime line-up and there are multiple scenarios under consideration.”
UPDATE: Fox has released a new statement:
“Reports based on various tweets by left wing activists are wildly inaccurate – Laura Ingraham, the top-rated woman in cable news, is now and will continue to be a prominent host and integral part of the Fox News lineup."
There is…
— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) May 17, 2023
A new report appears to shed more light on why Fox News decided to take Carlson off the air late last month.
According to a report by RadarOnline.com, Tucker Carlson was told by network brass he was being let go as part of Fox News’ massive $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems.
“In the latest development to come three weeks after Carlson was removed from his role at the network on April 24, it has been reported that one of Fox Corp.’s eight board members was the one to tell the fired host that his ‘recent benching’ was the result of the secret condition in the Dominion settlement,” the outlet reported.
The report continued: “According to Variety, the conversation between Carlson and the board member took place on April 26 – two days after the network announced Carlson’s involuntary departure from the company. The board member also reportedly told Carlson that the secret condition ensuring Carlson’s canning would not be found in any of the $787.5 million defamation settlement documents because it was a verbal agreement.”
