This was beautifully written, but I'm still puzzled as to why Fox would fire Carlson, the biggest driver of its revenue over the past 4 years. Management had to know that he would resurface elsewhere and demand huge ratings.
Thanks for the great pod, Charlie. As an Aussie (we are all well versed in the Murdoch family given 80% of our media is owned by them, (heavy sigh!). I can say this is a TOTAL Rupert move. He is a lance-the-boil guy. He did the same thing when he closed News Of The World and fired Rebekah Brookes, (to whom he was very close) over the UK phone hacking scandal. And James got spanked. I think he seriously regrets not nipping The Big Lie narrative in the bud after the election. The other big clue that it was Rupert and not Lachlan, the boy not so wonderful, was that the day after the Dominion settlement the big defamation lawsuit out here in Australia was pulled. The suit, brought by Lachlan was against a left-wing activist online magazine called 'Crikey.com' was a vanity project by Lachlan who was seriously peeved that Crikey labelled him 'An unindicted co-conspirator' in the January 6th insurrection and it was well reported out here that Rupert was against the suit from the start. Lachlan meanwhile kept doubling-down on the suit and ramping it up. So now dad has spanked Lachlan, too. It is classic Rupert - he has also sent an important message to the lunatic Republican party - there is no way on God's green earth that Rupert is happy about the power wielded by people like Marjorie Taylor Greene. You may disagree but I think he is likely very worried about the direction of the U.S. right now and the mid-terms probably worried him too. I agree with Brian that Rupert wants to get back to more normal Republican politics. Will be interesting to see what choices come next - maybe he closes Fox Business and out goes Maria. We can only hope.
Look for Carlson's long, long speech to the Heritage Foundation the day he was fired - irony abounds. He dubs heroes those who rebel against LGBTQ pronouns (a source of evil) without the safety he has of being in a paid position. Clearly he felt himself immune. Should one feel the need of some schadenfreude, this repugnant speech, though hard to listen through, provides a great opportunity.
I understand that some at the Bulwark have a grudge against Fox, but this is not really that big a deal. Neither is the firing of Lemon. What would be a deal would be if Lemon got Carlson's show, and Carlson got Lemon's old prime time show. That would be good fun. I'd watch some of that at least for a while. I expect that Carlson and Lemon will get a new gigs, but sadly, not those gigs.
That guy who ran into Tucker at the outfitter in Montana, I think, was right to call him out, telling him that he was a terrible person. Kudo's to him after Tucker's firing.
Brilliant bit of prose, Charlie. Body tossed from the ramparts. All I have been able to think of since reading that is the Monty Python cow flying over the castle wall.
I have a hard time summoning much jubilation over this. A toxic "news" network with a toxic business model fires a toxic on-air personality. So what? Until Fox abandons its outrage pimping-as-news business model, there isn't much to celebrate. Even more depressing would be if they really did fire him because he hurt their feelings - not for his execrable content.
There is a place waiting in Dante's Inferno for *ucker, the ice caves at the very bottom. He has lied and fed conspiracies for years. It is past time to return to fact based news. Faux Noise will never have fact based news as Rupert became a billionaire selling the lies and conspiracies on 3 continents. In the end Faux Noise will still have an 8PM host and that host will still spread lies and conspiracies.
Tucker Carlson is one of the most reprehensible human beings ever. He came from a completely privileged background and all he could find to do with it is spread lies, hate, bigotry, and fear. That he laughed about it is totally disgusting. I'm glad he's gone. I don't watch Fox and I never watched his show, except in passing. He and his ilk have trampled on every value I have and they have dissed people I hold near and dear. I get the feeling that more and more people are fed up with the Clown Show. I hope I'm right.
Nothing, not one vile, disgusting thing that came out of tucker's mouth was enough to fire him. It was because he criticized management and with the other lawsuits, he was increasingly becoming a headache. Fox will have learned nothing from this; they'll still be nightly lying to their audiences.
This was beautifully written, but I'm still puzzled as to why Fox would fire Carlson, the biggest driver of its revenue over the past 4 years. Management had to know that he would resurface elsewhere and demand huge ratings.
Thanks for the great pod, Charlie. As an Aussie (we are all well versed in the Murdoch family given 80% of our media is owned by them, (heavy sigh!). I can say this is a TOTAL Rupert move. He is a lance-the-boil guy. He did the same thing when he closed News Of The World and fired Rebekah Brookes, (to whom he was very close) over the UK phone hacking scandal. And James got spanked. I think he seriously regrets not nipping The Big Lie narrative in the bud after the election. The other big clue that it was Rupert and not Lachlan, the boy not so wonderful, was that the day after the Dominion settlement the big defamation lawsuit out here in Australia was pulled. The suit, brought by Lachlan was against a left-wing activist online magazine called 'Crikey.com' was a vanity project by Lachlan who was seriously peeved that Crikey labelled him 'An unindicted co-conspirator' in the January 6th insurrection and it was well reported out here that Rupert was against the suit from the start. Lachlan meanwhile kept doubling-down on the suit and ramping it up. So now dad has spanked Lachlan, too. It is classic Rupert - he has also sent an important message to the lunatic Republican party - there is no way on God's green earth that Rupert is happy about the power wielded by people like Marjorie Taylor Greene. You may disagree but I think he is likely very worried about the direction of the U.S. right now and the mid-terms probably worried him too. I agree with Brian that Rupert wants to get back to more normal Republican politics. Will be interesting to see what choices come next - maybe he closes Fox Business and out goes Maria. We can only hope.
Look for Carlson's long, long speech to the Heritage Foundation the day he was fired - irony abounds. He dubs heroes those who rebel against LGBTQ pronouns (a source of evil) without the safety he has of being in a paid position. Clearly he felt himself immune. Should one feel the need of some schadenfreude, this repugnant speech, though hard to listen through, provides a great opportunity.
Thank you Charlie for your always thoughtful analysis on important events like "Firing Tucker".
I NEVER watch Fox anything and NEVER have seen this tyrant on my Television but I read a lot about both!
What I read infuriates me except for reading you about this "Great" and needed event.
I guess even Fox finally got Tuckered out. The rest of us were fed up before he got rid of the bow tie.
Here's Tuckers mantra in a nutshell: "F🤪uck'em if they can't take a joke"
Toxic Tucker no longer infecting the citizenry via the Fox platform is a good thing. I agree with Mona! Denise Willson
I understand that some at the Bulwark have a grudge against Fox, but this is not really that big a deal. Neither is the firing of Lemon. What would be a deal would be if Lemon got Carlson's show, and Carlson got Lemon's old prime time show. That would be good fun. I'd watch some of that at least for a while. I expect that Carlson and Lemon will get a new gigs, but sadly, not those gigs.
That guy who ran into Tucker at the outfitter in Montana, I think, was right to call him out, telling him that he was a terrible person. Kudo's to him after Tucker's firing.
Read “Coriolanus.” It’s all there.
Brilliant bit of prose, Charlie. Body tossed from the ramparts. All I have been able to think of since reading that is the Monty Python cow flying over the castle wall.
Tucker undermined his boss and made him look bad. That’ll get you fired anywhere. Rupert Murdoch is old but not feeble.
I have a hard time summoning much jubilation over this. A toxic "news" network with a toxic business model fires a toxic on-air personality. So what? Until Fox abandons its outrage pimping-as-news business model, there isn't much to celebrate. Even more depressing would be if they really did fire him because he hurt their feelings - not for his execrable content.
There is a place waiting in Dante's Inferno for *ucker, the ice caves at the very bottom. He has lied and fed conspiracies for years. It is past time to return to fact based news. Faux Noise will never have fact based news as Rupert became a billionaire selling the lies and conspiracies on 3 continents. In the end Faux Noise will still have an 8PM host and that host will still spread lies and conspiracies.
Tucker Carlson is one of the most reprehensible human beings ever. He came from a completely privileged background and all he could find to do with it is spread lies, hate, bigotry, and fear. That he laughed about it is totally disgusting. I'm glad he's gone. I don't watch Fox and I never watched his show, except in passing. He and his ilk have trampled on every value I have and they have dissed people I hold near and dear. I get the feeling that more and more people are fed up with the Clown Show. I hope I'm right.
Nothing, not one vile, disgusting thing that came out of tucker's mouth was enough to fire him. It was because he criticized management and with the other lawsuits, he was increasingly becoming a headache. Fox will have learned nothing from this; they'll still be nightly lying to their audiences.