Fox News sent a “cease and desist” letter to its former host Tucker Carlson after he launched two episodes on Twitter that collectively have over 170 million views.
“With ‘Tucker on Twitter,’ Carlson and his growing production team are working to elevate Elon Musk’s social media site as a news platform. The cease-and-desist letter has ‘NOT FOR PUBLICATION’ in bold at the top. Fox continues to pay Carlson and maintains that his contract keeps his content exclusive to Fox through Dec. 31, 2024,” Axios reported.
“Carlson is making a First Amendment argument for posting on Twitter and asserts that Fox has committed material breaches of his contract. Carlson’s first two Twitter episodes were straight-to-camera monologues. He plans to keep iterating with longer, more varied episodes and the addition of guests, Axios is told,” the outlet reported.
Episode three of Tucker’s show is currently set to air on Tuesday night and will feature Carlson’s response to the indictment of former President Donald Trump.
Harmeet Dhillon, a well-known lawyer who represents Carlson, said in a statement to Axios: “Fox News continues to ignore the interests of its viewers, not to mention its shareholder obligations. Doubling down on the most catastrophic programming decision in the history of the cable news industry, Fox is now demanding that Tucker Carlson be silent until after the 2024 election. Tucker will not be silenced by anyone … He is a singularly important voice on matters of public interest in our country, and will remain so.”
For all the friends who have been asking “why don’t we see you on Fox anymore?” — This is why. I am passionately committed to free speech and a free flow of information necessary for a free society. Until Fox stops trying to silence Tucker, it’s not a place for me. And I feel for…
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) June 12, 2023
Carlson is the media figure people trust the most for news and information, according to a new poll.
“Carlson topped a list included in a new Gallup survey of leading news media figures and entertainment personalities as part of a survey in which respondents were asked who they trusted most to provide them news,” Gallup reported.
“Carlson had 113 mentions, followed by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow (107) and then Fox News pundit Sean Hannity (57), who was tied with former Daily Show host and comedian Trevor Noah. NBC News anchor Lester Holt placed highest among non-opinion journalists, placing seventh with 55 mentions,” the survey found.
“Now we are going to ask you about the one public individual you watch or follow the most to get information,” the Gallup poll stated. “Public individuals are people who have public influence.”
Another recent survey found that Carlson remains more popular with Americans than his former employer.
The poll by Rasmussen Reports found that Carlson remains popular among conservative and Republican likely voters. “Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Likely U.S. voters have a favorable impression of Carlson, including 36% who have a Very Favorable opinion of him,” the polling firm noted.
“Thirty-four percent (34%) view Carlson unfavorably, including 25% with a Very Unfavorable impression,” the firm added in a release.
Meanwhile, Fox News now has a lower approval from likely voters, with only 52% of voters viewing the network favorably and 24% very favorably, decidedly lower than Carlson’s numbers.
Among likely voters, 42% viewed Fox News unfavorably, with 28% having a very unfavorable view.
When it comes to the impact of Carlson’s firing from the network, only 19 percent of voters thought it would have a positive effect on the network. In contrast, 32 percent believed that his departure would actually lower the quality of the news platform.
On the other hand, 42 percent of voters did not think that Carlson’s exit would make any significant difference to Fox.