Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson appeared to publicly speak about his departure from Fox News for the first time, saying that he’s still not sure why the company parted ways with him.
During an interview posted to X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr. Carlson criticized his former network for the rule against President Trump appearing on the channel, alleging that its owner, Rupert Murdoch, doesn’t favor the former commander-in-chief. Because the former president and current GOP frontrunner wasn’t being featured on the network, Fox News essentially was “not really covering the news anymore,” he said.
“The Murdochs never got in my way. They were always good to me,” Mr. Carlson said in the Aug. 30 interview, which featured Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy. However, he added there were apparently “small-minded” individuals running the channel.
“It’s a company run by fearful women, you know what I mean?” he stated.
When it announced his departure, Fox News said in a news release that it had “parted ways” with Mr. Carlson. The company has never publicly said whether it fired him or not.
Meanwhile, Mr. Carlson addressed speculation that he was trying to upstage his former employer by releasing a video of his interview with former President Donald Trump during the same time as the first GOP presidential debate, which aired on Fox News.
Mr. Carlson, whose sudden departure from Fox in April upended the cable news landscape, said in a recent episode that the timing wasn’t up to him.
“To me, the Trump interview seemed like something—it looked like you guys were sticking it to Fox,” Mr. Portnoy stated in the episode.
“I would never want to stick it to Fox,” Mr. Carlson said, smiling. However, the ex-host became more somber and stated: “No, I’m not mad at Fox. I’m really not.”
Elaborating on the move, Mr. Carlson said, “Well, it was the night of the debate, but the reason that it was, is because he didn’t want to do the debate. I didn’t make that decision for him.”
President Trump, who said he wouldn’t attend the debate due to his high poll numbers and other reasons, “approached us and said, ‘You know, I’m not gonna do the debate,’ but if I’m being totally honest, I didn’t really believe him,” Mr. Carlson added. He noted that President Trump likely intentionally wanted the video released at the same time as the debate because the former president “doesn’t like Fox.”
“But they don’t like him. You know, they never did, and they always had rules about not allowing him on,” Mr. Carlson said, referring to Fox News’s stance. “My view was, I think it’s totally legitimate you just don’t like Donald Trump. I don’t hold that against anybody.”
Even after his departure from the network, Mr. Carlson said that his “view on Fox hasn’t really changed,” adding that management “let me say whatever I want, whatever I wanted really for 14 years and I’ll never stop being grateful for that.”
“And then obviously, I said too much, and I’m not exactly sure what I said that was bad. No one ever told me. But one day, they were like, ‘Nope! Can’t have this anymore.’ And they fired me,” Mr. Carlson said in what appears to be his first comments on the incident since he left April. “And I even told them as they were firing me, like, ‘It’s your business.’ I made a mental note. Never work for anyone else again and I never will.”
Ep. 21 Dave Portnoy founded Barstool Sports and just completed the most impressive business transaction of our lifetime. He also just got into an epic fight and shared the video with us first. Watch. pic.twitter.com/W7AJ10kZni
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) August 31, 2023
2 Timothy 3:5-7
King James Version
5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,
7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.