Fox News says it has agreed to part ways with Tucker Carlson, its popular and controversial primetime host, less than a week after settling a lawsuit over the network’s 2020 election reporting.
The network said that Carlson’s last program aired Friday.
“FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” Fox News said in a statement. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”
The network said “Fox News Tonight” will air live starting this Monday night as “an interim show helmed by rotating Fox News personalities until a new host is named.”
Carlson has hosted the nightly political talk show “Tucker Carlson Tonight” since 2016. The show was one of the most-watched shows in cable news, outpacing rivals both at Fox and competitor networks CNN and MSNBC.
While popular, Carlson also regularly drew criticism and condemnation for his commentary around any number of social justice issues, from race to LGBTQ concerns and was often seen as a leader in driving conservatives to rally around culture wars.
The move also comes in the wake of a jaw-dropping $787.5 million settlement parent company Fox Corp. made with Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s handling of false allegations that the 2020 election had been stolen.
Carlson had been expected to testify had the case gone to trial.
In the weeks before the settlement was announced, a former Fox producer who worked on the shows of Maria Bartiromo and Carlson, came forward “alleging she was coerced into providing misleading testimony as part of the Dominion lawsuit.”
Abby Grossberg, who filed lawsuits against Fox in New York and Delaware,also accused the network of discrimination. Following her lawsuits going public last week, Grossberg’s attorneys said in court papers that she was fired by Fox in retaliation.
Fox is now facing a similar lawsuit from Smartmatic USA, a voting tech company also dragged into the coverage of false claims of election fraud.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
