Two weeks after Fox News jettisoned Tucker Carlson, its former star host is fighting back.
According to Axios, Carlson is claiming the network breached its contract with him and is accusing it of fraud.
By arguing that Fox broke the agreement, Carlson is taking the position that he is now free to move on with his career as he sees fit.
To that end, he announced Tuesday that he will be offering a show on Twitter.
“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. We’ll be bringing some other things too, which we’ll tell you about,” he said in a video.
“But for now, we’re just grateful to be here. Free speech is the main right that you have. Without it, you have no others. See you soon.”
We’re back. pic.twitter.com/sG5t9gr60O
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 9, 2023
Axios reported that Carlson’s attorneys fired off a missive to Fox prior to Carlson announcing that he would start a new venture.
Although Fox benched Carlson, it still has him under contract through January 2025. Fox is willing to keep paying him, but Carlson wants to get out from under the contract and strike out on his own.
Since Fox fired him, Carlson has received multiple offers of employment from other news outlets and media companies.
Carlson’s letter says Fox executives, including Rupert Murdoch, broke promises “intentionally and with reckless disregard for the truth.”
The letter claims Fox execs made “material representations” to Carlson, which the letter says amounts to fraud. Axios’ sources said the executives in question were Murdoch and Viet Dinh, Fox’s top legal officer.
According to the letter, Fox promised it would not leak Carlson’s private communications or use those messages “to take any adverse employment action against him.”
The letter also claims Fox broke promises not to settle the lawsuit filed against it by Dominion Voting Systems “in a way which would indicate wrongdoing” on Carlson’s part or take actions to hurt his reputation.
According to Axios’ sources, Carlson was told by a Fox board member that the $787.5 million settlement was the reason he was removed.
“These actions not only breached the covenant of good faith and fair dealing in the Agreement, but give rise to claims for breach of contract, and intentional and negligent misrepresentation,” the letter says.
Fox and Dominion have both said Carlson’s ouster was not related to the settlement.
“Dominion did not insist on them firing Tucker Carlson as part of the settlement,” said Stephen Shackelford, an attorney who represented Dominion.
The letter claims Irena Briganti, Fox’s communications chief, tried to “undermine, embarrass, and interfere” with Carlson’s post-Fox prospects.
Former Fox host Megyn Kelly has theorized that Briganti is behind leaks of off-air comments Carlson made on the set of his show. Kelly claimed Briganti “f***ing hates Tucker. … She hates his guts.”
On a recent earnings call in which Fox noted that it posted a $50 million loss last quarter due in part to the Dominion settlement, CEO Lachlan Murdoch said there are no major changes for the network ahead.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
