Tucker Carlson news – live: Fired Fox News host’s sexist comments about fans revealed as Newsmax ratings climb

It didn’t take long for Tucker Carlson to land a job offer after losing his primetime slot on the most-watched cable news network in the country.

Within hours after Fox News announced that the network agreed to “part ways” with the far-right nationalist pundit on Monday morning, Russian state media personalities and propaganda outlets opened their doors.

Tucker Carlson was caught on video making inappropriate comments about his “postmenopausal fans” before he was fired by Fox News, according to a report.

Rupert Murdoch’s news network parted company with the right-wing TV host on Monday, days after Fox News agreed to pay $787.5m to Dominion Voting Systems to settle a defamation lawsuit over election lies amplified by the channel’s personalities.

Prior to the settlement, Mr Carlson was caught off camera talking about how his older female “fans” would like how he looked on his prime-time show, reported The New York Times.

In another video, the Times reported, the host was heard talking about how he found a woman “yummy.”

Report:

Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News.

After the dueling choruses of doomsayers and giddy celebrants died down on Monday (24 April), the question of why Carlson was reportedly fired still lingered.

While there is no definitive answer to that question at the moment, there are a few contenders that – in part or in full – may explain why the conservative cable news network axed its biggest star without giving him so much as a goodbye tweet. Graig Graziosi reports:

Gretchen Carlson – who sued former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes in 2016 following sexual harassment allegations – wrote a column for The Daily Beast questioning whether the changes made at the network in the aftermath of the massive settlement with Dominion Voting Systems will be meaningful.

“Since my case was resolved, Fox has repeatedly said that it has moved on from its toxic culture. I don’t know if that’s true or not. But we do know that since the Ailes years, Fox management and talent have continued to spin a web of lies to deceive viewers and confuse American voters, all harmful to the country,” she wrote.

She told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes on Wednesday night that the network needs to “clean house completely” to commit to any significant change.

“If Fox really wants to have a genuine recommitment to journalism, albeit with a conservative point of view – but at least truths – then they really have to clean house completely,” she said.

“When you get rid of a Bill O’Reilly, you put a Tucker Carlson in there and they get even higher ratings,” she added. “They have a business decision to make. I think there’s been a complete shift in the old Fox and the Fox of the last five to seven years.”

Hayes disputed that, but Carlson added that the network has become a “rudderless ship”.

Tucker Carlson’s first Twitter video since his Fox News firing took only an hour to surpass the ratings of his old prime-time slot on Fox News.

Rupert Murdoch’s news network parted company with the right-wing TV host on Monday, days after Fox News agreed to pay $787.5m to Dominion Voting Systems to settle a defamation lawsuit over election lies amplified by the channel’s personalities.

Carlson broke his silence over his exit from Fox News in a defiant and conspiracy-laced video he posted to Twitter on Wednesday evening at 8pm, his former primetime slot on the channel.

Graeme Massie has more:

Tucker Carlson Tonight provided a regular dose of fossil-fuel industry talking points, conspiracy theories and monologues interwoven with racist, misogynistic, xenophobic and homophobic material.

He claimed that the “existence of winter disproves the science of climate change”; called climate science a “state religion”; said scientists and activists “bully” people like him and “hate the Earth... hate nature.”

His Fox programming will be remembered as one of the most prolific disseminators of misinformation on the climate crisis in recent memory.

Lies over the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election appear to be what finally finished off Tucker Carlson at Fox News. But the TV showman was an equal opportunist when it came to disinformation.

“Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” read a network statement.

Carlson reportedly found out on Monday morning that he would be replaced in his primetime slot that night.

Louise Boyle reports:

Abby Grossberg’s lawsuit – which is filed against Tucker Carlson, among others – alleges that Carlson’s “derogatory comments towards women, and his disdain for those who dare to object to such misogyny, is well known” on the set of his Tucker Carlson Tonight.

He comalaint filed in US District Court last month argues that her allegations join a pattern of abuse and gender-based retaliation at the company, with more than 10 pages outlining a legacy of “vivid examples of blatant sexual harassment and gender discrimination” from at least 2004.

The lawsuit’s claims are echoed in recent documents and several media outlets reporting offensive statements made by the Fox star before he was fired.

James Corden joked that he’d be appearing on Dancing with the Stars with Tucker Carlson as his tenure on The Late Late Show comes to an end tonight.

In a Carpool Karaoke special airing hours before Corden’s final Late Late Show, the host spoke about his feelings coming into Television City – CBS’s studio lot in Los Angeles – for the last time.

Read this report to find out what he said:

Prior to the Dominion Voting Systems settlement, Tucker Carlson was reportedly caught off camera talking about how his older female “fans” would like how he looked on his prime-time show.

In another video, he was reportedly heard talking about how he found a woman “yummy.”