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Ousted Fox News star Tucker Carlson announced that he is relaunching a version of his show on Twitter.
In a three-minute video captioned ‘We’re back,’ posted to his own Twitter page, the controversial cable star slammed the mainstream media and said that anyone who tries to tell the truth will be disposed of.
Before the announcement, Carlson’s powerful attorneys sent an aggressive letter to Fox arguing that the $25million noncompete provision in his contract is no longer valid, which would in turn allow him to launch a competing show, or media entity.
In the video, Carlson, 53, told his followers: ‘Starting soon we’ll be bringing a new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter.’
‘We bring some other things too, which we’ll tell you about. But for now we’re just grateful to be here. Free speech is the main right that you have. Without it, you have no others.’
‘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,’ Carlson told his fans.
‘If you bump up against those limits often enough you will be fired for it. That’s not a guess, it’s guaranteed.’
Following the announcement, Elon Musk – who purchased the platform last October – clarified that he had not signed a deal with Carlson, and like other creators on the platform, the political host would generate his own revenue from advertising.
‘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,’ Musk tweeted, in response to Carlson’s video.
‘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.’
It has also been revealed that Carlson had a conversation with Musk about working together.
The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX chief executive added that he would like to see others, especially those who lean left, follow Carlson’s lead.
The Twitter show would seem to violate Carlson’s contract with Fox, but his attorneys’ claim in their letter that Fox breached the contract first.
Carlson’s contract technically runs through January 2025, and Fox reportedly wants to keep paying him until then, which would prevent him from starting a rival show.
The letter indicates that Fox employees, including ‘Rupert Murdoch himself,’ broke promises made to Carlson ‘intentionally and with reckless disregard for the truth.’
Specifically, the letter alleged that Fox broke an agreement with Carlson not to leak his private communications to the media and not to use Carlson’s private messages ‘to take any adverse employment action against him.’
Axios reports Carlson cannot join a rival news organization or start one of his own under his $25-million-a-year contract with Fox, which expires in January 2025 (pictured Rupert Murdoch, who owns Fox News, with his sons James and Lachlan in 2016)
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Carlson and his wife Susan Andrews pictured for the first time after his dismissal since parting ways with Fox late last month
Behind the scenes videos of Carlson and several of his private communications have been leaked and reported on by multiple outlets. The material come from pre-trial discovery documents and the suggestion has been made they are, at least, the partial cause of his ousting.
Fox is, in fact, now demanding that an internal probe be conducted into the leak of Carlson’s texts.
The letter alleged that Fox shattered promises to Carlson not to settle with Dominion Voting Systems ‘in a way which would indicate wrongdoing’ on the part of Carlson or to take any actions via settlement that would damage Carlson’s image.
Axios reported that Carlson was told by a member of the Fox board that he was removed from air as part of the network’s $787.5million Dominion settlement.
An attorney for Dominion claimed that the company did not insist on Fox firing Carlson as part of the settlement.
A spokesperson for Fox also claimed it is ‘categorically false’ that Carlson lost his job as part of the Dominion settlement.
Nonetheless, Carlson’s attorneys believe and are arguing that the narrative spinning about Carlson after his abrupt exit amounts to a breach of contract because the network created additional terms of Carlson’s employment that were then broken by the company.
‘These actions not only breached the covenant of good faith and fair dealing in the Agreement, but give rise to claims for breach of contract, and intentional and negligent misrepresentation,’ read the letter.
Carlson is additionally claiming that Fox’s Irena Briganti – the company’s longtime PR and communications director – worked to ‘undermine, embarrass, and interfere’ with Carlson’s future business opportunities, which he argues would amount to another breach of contract.
‘Make no mistake, we intend to subpoena Ms. Briganti’s cell phone records and related documents, which evidence communications with her and all media, including, but not limited to The New York Times,’ read the letter.
A New York Times report indicates that the day prior to Carlson’s Twitter announcement, he’d had a conversation with Fox CEO, Lachlan Murdoch – son of Rupert.
The newspaper reported the meeting was to discuss a possible exit from the company.
Carlson hosted his last show on April 21, telling the audience he would see them on Monday. After the weekend, there was no official reason given for why the company let their most-watched anchor go.
Fox News said that they had over 40 new advertisers move into the 8pm slot now occupied by Fox News Tonight since the firebrand presenter left the show.
Leaked text messages obtained by some outlets in the aftermath of Carlson’s shocking departure implied that the host was looking to leave the company in the wake of the network’s 2020 election coverage.
