Tucker Carlson got fired

Fox News abruptly fired prime-time host Tucker Carlson. Though there are several floated explanations for the ouster, including a New York Times report that highly crude and offensive text messages by Carlson – which are apparently only known at this point to top Fox executives, lawyers, and the Fox board – were the catalyst for his termination. Fox has yet to say anything definitive. What we do know is that Carlson's departure is an objective good for this country.

During his seven-year tenure on prime time, Carlson was one of this nation's leading purveyors of conspiracy theories, white nationalism, hate speech, and lies. He boosted himself to higher ratings by demonizing immigrants, assaulting the dignity of LGBTQ people, and spreading hate-infused fever dreams of mass shooters. In 2019, Media Matters unearthed audio of Carlson from 2006 to 2011 which clearly demonstrates the devilish depths of his racism and misogyny. Both on screen and behind it, Carlson was wicked and dangerous.

Carlson’s ouster came shortly after Fox’s $787 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. The lawsuit exposed Fox and Carlson as liars and frauds, unrepentantly spreading misinformation about the 2020 election. Through discovered text messages, the lawsuit also showed that Carlson himself repeatedly lied to his viewers, as he privately disparaged former President Donald Trump while praising him on the air.

A vacuum now exists in the conservative media ecosphere, as Media Matters’ Madeline Peltz argues. We saw this week how other conservative pundits rushed to defend Carlson and siege Fox News. This even included former Fox hosts, who adamantly condemned the network for removing Carlson from the airwaves. Fox News, once the undisputed giant in right-wing media, is now being routinely attacked by conservative pundits across various platforms. Newsmax, the grifting bargain budget Fox, is even attempting to fill the gap that was created by Carlson’s ouster.

As Media Matters President and CEO Angelo Carusone detailed, Carlson leaves a legacy of “bloodthirstiness” for extremism at Fox News. Though Carlson was uniquely dangerous, Fox News will forever be shaped by this legacy. There is still work to be done.

In an interesting turn of fate, conservative pundits blamed (or credited, depending on your perspective) Media Matters for its “effective ” use of advertiser boycotts in getting Carlson removed from the air. These campaigns work thanks to people like you speaking up. Standing up to hate and lies can sometimes feel like an impossible task, but ignoring the cynics and standing up for common decency is a vital part of any civic society – especially when it can be hard to be hopeful.

We’ve demonstrated how Fox News is attempting to raise your cable bill, forcing you and your neighbors to subsidize the network’s extremism. Don’t let them. Sign up to NoFoxFee.com to get tips on how to send a polite message to your provider. It might sound silly but we have heard directly that they listen to the calls they get. You can also sign up for emails so that we can alert you directly when we know for certain when your provider is Fox's crosshairs. Tell your cable provider, “Don’t let Fox News raise my bill.”

This week in stupid

• Newsmax guest and former Fox News host Todd Starnes said: “Fox News Channel, owned by foreigners, and they really don't care about America unlike Newsmax which does, an American-owned company.”
• Fox host Rachel Campos-Duffy claimed COVID precautions were a secret plot to make Americans obese so they would purchase weight loss pills.
• The Daily Wire's Michael Knowles warned of hypnotic lewd content that could lead to “transgenderism.”

This week in scary

• The Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles said: “Banning books is very American. Banning drag shows is obviously very American.”
• Fox host Former Republican Arizona state Rep. Liz Harris, who was recently expelled from the legislature, went on several QAnon-supporting shows and told viewers to “bombard” Republican officials to get her reinstated.

Excuse me?

• Fox News’ Sean Hannity called for the arrest of Secretary of State Antony Blinken over Hunter Biden’s laptop.
• Fox’s Jeanine Pirro abruptly cut to a commercial break after her co-host’s apparent reference to Tucker Carlson’s departure from the network."

In case you missed it

• A Fox so-called “straight news” anchor spread anti-abortion misinformation that FDA-approved medication mifepristone was rushed to approval and is dangerous.
• On CNN, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft claimed “it’s a lie to say that you can change from a man to a woman or a woman to a man.”
• Fox’s Brian Kilmeade agreed that Donald Trump will lose “worse” to Joe Biden in 2024 than he did in 2020.”
• Speaking on Mark Levin’s radio show, Donald Trump said, “We had the election result. I won’t go into it because you’re associated with Fox, so we’re not allowed to talk about that stuff.”
• Steve Bannon told his viewers, “No one should watch Fox, just take the clicker and cut it off.”

Further reading

• On a white nationalist program, Arizona Republican Senate candidate Mark Lamb defended the man who shot Ralph Yarl.
• During Earth Week, broadcast TV spent a pitiful 3 hours discussing climate and environmental issues.”
• Twitter CEO Elon Musk is busy courting advertisers to the platform. A new study by Media Matters demonstrates how prevalent COVID-19 misinformation is on Twitter.
• Lizzo had a Tennessee performance which featured several drag queens. Right-wing media hosts were quick to attack her.
• CBS Sunday Morning had a segment featuring the far-right organization Moms for Liberty. The show completely left out that the group routinely engages in harassment, extremism, and violent threats.
• Right-wing media outlets are getting a disproportionate share of interactions on Facebook with sensational posts praising people who have shot home intruders. A new Media Matters study demonstrates how these pages earned 65% of total interactions on posts related to home invasions from U.S. political news pages on Facebook. ’s books.
• Right-wing media are desperately trying to turn the Sudan embassy evacuation into a scandal for the Biden administration. (It’s not.)
• Fox News contributors Sara Carter and Tom Homan are set to speak at an event honoring a far-right streamer, who pushes conspiracy theories about Dominion Voting Systems, Smartmatic, and the death of Seth Rich; if that's not enough, the streamer is now claiming that Fox News has been “captured” and that people need to “wake up and shut it off.”
• An anti-choice group is using TikTok to recruit followers to harass abortion clinics.
• Right-wing media figures and activists continue calling for cuts to Social Security and Medicare, despite Republican leaders denying that slashing these benefits is their goal.