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All forgiven? Tucker Carlson spotted cozying up to Fox News at RNC

Carlson was fired from Fox News last year amid a series of scandals

Ariana Baio
Thursday 18 July 2024 17:50 BST
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Right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson was spotted at Fox News’s green room at the RNC convention
Right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson was spotted at Fox News’s green room at the RNC convention (Getty Images)

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Former Fox News media personality Tucker Carlson was reportedly spotted hanging around his former network’s green room at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday evening, despite being ousted last year. 

Carlson apparently accompanied his friend, Donald Trump Jr., to Fox News’s green room and studio where Trump Jr. was set to speak with Fox News host Sean Hannity.

A witness to the account said Carlson was warmly greeted by his former colleagues like Hannity, Jesse Watters and Jeanine Pirro. But several Fox News crew members were surprised, and “uncomfortable” to see him, according to NOTUS.

Carlson was abruptly, and publicly, fired from the network last year allegedly because his proliferation of 2020 election fraud claims contributed to the multi-million dollar lawsuit launched by Dominion Voting Systems But also, allegedly, in part due to the unattractive revelations that emerged about the host’s internal communications.

That decision apparently came directly from the head of the media conglomerate, Rupert Murdoch – who barely missed Carlson on Wednesday evening when he too made a surprise appearance at Fox News’s green room on Thursday.

Since his exit from Fox News, Carlson has started his own media organization, the Tucker Carlson Network, with a show that airs on the platform X.

For the last year, it seemed that tensions between Carlson and the network were still simmering. The Tucker Carlson Network’s X tagline claims, “Corporate media is dead.”

But Carlson’s career – which included a controversial softball interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin – has managed to remain steady, with his endeavors landing him in the good graces of Donald Trump and his allies. The former Fox News host stood prominently alongside the former president, vice-presidential candidate JD Vance, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Representative Byron Donalds on the first day of the RNC.

Carlson’s influence apparently helped Trump choose Vance as his running mate.

His presence among Trump’s circle even earned him the primetime spot speaking the RNC on Thursday evening.

It is unclear why Carlson joined Trump Jr. in dropping by Fox News’s green room but the former president’s son was invited onto Hannity hours after he criticized the network and Murdoch.

"There was a time where if you wanted to survive in the Republican Party, you had to bend the knee to [Murdoch] or to others," Trump Jr. told  AXIOS.

"I don’t think that’s the case anymore,” he added.

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