Tucker Carlson just might take his audience with him after his abrupt firing from Fox News.
The former prime-time cable news host released a video on Twitter on Tuesday that was met with massive interest from his loyal viewer base.
The video — in which Carlson announced his intention to begin hosting a nightly show that will be streamed on Twitter — had received almost 18 million views by Wednesday morning Eastern.
“Starting soon, we’ll be bringing a new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter,” Carlson said.
We’re back. pic.twitter.com/sG5t9gr60O
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 9, 2023
Carlson lauded Twitter’s renewed commitment to free expression under the ownership of Elon Musk in the announcement.
The tweet that contained the video merited a whopping 77 million views as of Wednesday morning.
The numbers dwarfed Carlson’s regular Fox viewing audience, which averaged about 3 million though occasionally reached much higher.
Fans of Carlson pointed out that the video was all but assured to attract far more interest than any of Fox News’ programming following the star host’s firing.
And that interest was evident from the time Carlson’s video first became available to the public.
Just 25 minutes after his announcement, @TuckerCarlson has more viewers for this clip in the Demo than the entire @FoxNews primetime lineup will get tonight.
— Jeremy Carl (@jeremycarl4) May 9, 2023
Those numbers had to remind Fox executives of one fact that illustrated how popular Carlson is among the network’s target audience:
His first video following his hasty departure from Fox News simply demolished the cable news ratings of his former Fox News peers.
Carlson’s 2-minute video, released April 26, two days after his ouster from Fox, had more than double the network’s prime-time lineup for the two previous days combined.
Good evening pic.twitter.com/SPrsYKWKCE
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) April 27, 2023
Carlson proved capable of almost always securing the top spot in Fox cable ratings — a position that guaranteed him first place for cable news, overall.
The host’s success has left many of his viewers questioning why he was canned from the network, which is ultimately run by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, whose empire includes other news outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.
One indication of Carlson’s popularity is that the New York Post published his video to its own YouTube page — and comments were overwhelmingly positive.
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Some fans of Carlson accuse Fox of censoring a host who was willing to express viewpoints corporate management found inconvenient.
Media analysts have predicted that Fox could seek to muzzle Carlson by refusing to release him from his contract — keeping him on the company payroll until after the 2024 presidential election.
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Lawyers for Carlson on Tuesday delivered a preliminary shot in a bid to prevent such a maneuver with a letter accusing Fox management of breaching its contract with the former host.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
