April 24 (UPI) — Fox News announced that its top opinion show host Tucker Carlson has agreed to leave the network with his final show already airing this past Friday.
The stunning announcement comes on the heels of Fox News settling a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million. The voting machine company had accused Fox and its leading hosts such as Carlson of peddling falsehoods about them after the 2020 presidential election.
Earlier this month, Carlson dedicated his entire show to former President Donald Trump, who has in large part continued to spread disinformation about Dominion in his complaints over the 2020 election won by President Joe Biden.
“FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” Fox News said in a brief statement on Monday. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”
Fox News said that Fox News Tonight will air at 8 p.m., EDT, starting on Monday on an interim basis lead by ” rotating Fox News personalities until a new host is named.”
Carlson, who has long served as a leading national conservative voice while on CNN and Fox News, is under the spotlight for a lawsuit filed by his former show producer Abby Grossberg, who charged he created a misogynistic and discriminatory workplace culture.
Grossberg, who was eventually fired by Fox after filing the lawsuit, also claimed the network coerced her to provide a misleading deposition in the Dominion trial and defend an offensive text from Carlson about her.
Carlson has led Tucker Carlson Tonight since 2016 and signed a new deal with Fox News two years ago that extended his brand into podcasts and a series called Tucker Carlson Originals on the network’s streaming service.
