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Fox News anchor Sean Hannity’s primetime show is feeling the heat since popular host Tucker Carlson was ousted from the network.
“Fox fired Carlson, its most-watched on-air presence, last month following a steady string of controversies and dwindling participation in his primetime show by premium advertisers. Fox News’ rating performance declined around 50% in the key adults 25-54 audience demo in the immediate aftermath of Carlson’s final April 21 show,” Yahoo News reported.
Speaking Wednesday morning at MoffettNathanson’s Inaugural Technology, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch claimed he was confident in Fox’s future.
“We’ve done it before, right? You know, Bill O’Reilly was a superstar. Megyn Kelly was a superstar. Glenn Beck was a superstar, and we’re able to move forward with programming decisions that ultimately result in long-term growth and profitability of the business,” Murdoch said.
Earlier this month, Hannity said he was “stunned” after learning that the network had parted ways with Carlson.
Speaking on his radio show “The Sean Hannity Show,” Hannity — whose 9 PM ET program on Fox News begins immediately after Carlson’s now-former time slot — admitted that he had no idea that Carlson would be leaving.
“It’s very hard,” Hannity said. “My phone has been blowing up. The hard part for me is I don’t have a clue … I have no idea. Was it Tucker’s decision? Was it Fox’s? Was it a mutual agreement that they had? I don’t know. I guess people think that because I’ve been there the longest I’d have some knowledge or understanding of what’s going on, but… I just don’t.”
Outside of Carlson and Hannity, Fox News denied reports on Wednesday that host Laura Ingraham has been fired from the network.
Fox News released a statement on Wednesday night slamming “left-wing activists” who claimed on Twitter that the network planned to fire Ingraham, who has been a host on Fox for many years.
“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.”
A new report appears to shed more light on why Fox News decided to take its biggest star 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.
