Tucker Carlson announced this week that he will relaunch his canceled program on Twitter, after Fox News fired him in late April, CNN has reported.
On Monday (April 24), Fox made a bombshell announcement that it had "agreed to part ways" with its most-watched primetime host with immediate effect.
"We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor," the company said in a short statement. "Mr. Carlson's last program was Friday, April 21st. Fox News Tonight will air live at 8:00 PM starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating Fox News personalities until a new host is named."
During the final segment on his show, Carlson ate pizza with Tyler Morrell - a pizza delivery driver from Pennsylvania who assisted in the arrest of a suspect evading law enforcement.
However, Carlson might not be away from screen for long. In fact, he made the recent announcement that his show would be returning in a video posted to Twitter. Though Musk - who acquired Twitter in October - said the social media platform did not sign an agreement with Carlson for his new show.
"Speech is the fundamental pre-requisite for democracy. That's why it was enshrined in the first of our Constitutional amendments," Carlson said in his Twitter video. "Amazingly, as of tonight, there are not that many platforms left that allow free speech. The last big one remaining … is Twitter, where we are now."
"The best you can hope for in the news business at this point is the freedom to tell the fullest truth that you can. But there are always limits. And you know that if you bump up against those limits often enough, you will be fired for it. That’s not a guess, that’s guaranteed," he added.
A Wall Street Journal report from last month detailed that Carlson's contract with Fox News was worth a whopping $20 million a year, with the financial outlet explaining that Carlson was expected to be paid out in full. Though, perhaps Carlson's idea to bring his show to Twitter could affect whether he receives this full payout.
Musk revealed on Twitter that he did not agree to any such arrangement with Carlson, taking to Twitter to write: "On this platform, unlike the one-way street of broadcast, people are able to interact, critique and refute whatever he or anyone may say [...] I also want to be clear that we have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever. Tucker is subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators."
"Rewards means subscriptions and advertising revenue share (still working on software needed for latter), which is a function of how many people subscribe and the advertising views associated with his content. I hope that many others, particularly from the left, also choose to be content creators on this platform," he added.
Following Carlson's sudden departure from Fox, the network has suffered immensely, especially given the loyal following he had in his 8:00 PM slot. In fact, CNN detailed that the network's ratings have not only declined significantly, but they have only weakened during this prime time. The outlet explained that Fox has experienced some of their lowest ratings since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
