Tucker Carlson says he will relaunch show on Twitter after Fox News ouster

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who was taken off the air by the network last month, said on Tuesday he would relaunch his show on Twitter “soon.”

Fox News Media and its top-rated host agreed to part ways last month, shortly after parent company Fox Corp settled for US$787.5 million a defamation lawsuit in which Carlson played a starring role.

The outspoken Carlson embraced conservative issues and delivered his views with a style that made his prime-time show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” the highest-rated cable news program in the key 25-to-54 age demographic on the most-watched U.S. cable news network.

Ratings slumped after his departure.

“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,” Carlson said in a video posted on the platform. “We bring some other things too, which we’ll tell you about. But for now, we’re just grateful to be here.”

Carlson’s announcement comes weeks after Twitter-owner Elon Musk sat for a two-part interview with Carlson on Fox News.

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Musk, who has referred to himself as a “free speech absolutist,” has said his goal is to make Twitter a digital town hall where users can share diverse viewpoints.

Even as Carlson announced plans to reboot his show on social media, Axios reported that his lawyers sent a letter to Fox accusing it of fraud and breach of contract.

1:00 Tucker Carlson out at Fox News, Don Lemon fired from CNN in major U.S. cable news shakeup

Carlson’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Fox Corp declined to comment.

Fox’s lawyers have asked attorneys for Dominion Voting Systems to investigate whether they leaked controversial internal messages from Carlson that provided evidence in their recent defamation suit.

The request came after multiple news outlets published racist and sexist remarks by Carlson in the leaked communications and recordings.

(Reporting by Eric Beech and Dan Whitcomb and Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles, Sheila Dang in New York; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Lisa Shumaker)