Tucker Carlson was blindsided by his firing from Fox News and learned of it on Monday morning shortly before it was announced, sources tell DailyMail.com.
Even some of his closest staff were unaware that his show had been axed, reading about it for the first time on Twitter.
‘No one I know was told about it beforehand. We were blindsided,’ one senior staffer who works closely with Tucker’s show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, told DailyMail.com.
Another insider revealed he still has no idea why he was let go so suddenly, and that many staffers are now questioning whether it’s part of a wider plan by the Murdoch family to sell the media behemoth.
‘Tucker still hasn’t been given any indication of why he was taken off the air. His producer Justin Wells was fired too.
‘We believe Rupert wants to sell the company and it’s harder to find an institutional buyer with Tucker as the main star.
‘Tucker gone makes it more of an appealing media company to buy,’ the source said.
The Los Angeles Times reports that it was a combination of Carlson’s coverage of the January 6 riot and a recent lawsuit filed by Abby Grossberg, a former producer, who says she was subjected to sexism, bullying and anti-Semitism while working on the show.
The Times’ sources say Rupert Murdoch gave the order for Carlson to be shown the door.
Seemingly unaware of his looming fate, he signed off his final show on Friday enthusiastically with: ‘That’s it for us for the week, we’ll be back!’
Justin Wells, his senior executive producer, has also confirmed his departure from the network.
In a shock announcement Monday, the network announced Carlson would not be returning.
‘FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,’ the network statement read.
An interim roster of hosts will take over in his absence until a permanent replacement is chosen. No other explanation has been given for his sudden departure after seven years at the top.
Shares in Fox Corp, the network’s parent company, fell by 5 percent after the announcement – wiping $500 million from its market value.
Carlson’s departure comes just five days after Fox settled with Dominion Voting Systems which had sued for defamation.
His departure also comes just four days after that of Dan Bongino, and several months after Fox ‘parted ways’ with President Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara.
Add Fox to the boycott list !
Fuck Fox News and the drunken Lindsey Graham !
Big pharma wins again. I’ll give gutfield one more week than I’m done.