Fox News viewers are dumping their subscriptions to the company’s streaming service as many have declared they will follow former primetime host Tucker Carlson out the door.
Carlson was inexplicably cut loose by Fox News on Monday morning in spite of hosting cable’s top-rated show and the fact he arguably carried Fox Nation with supreme content.
Some reports claim the separation between Carlson and Fox was in relation to a lawsuit filed by a former producer named Abby Grossberg, who claimed she was subjected to a hostile work environment.
But no matter the reason, after almost seven years in primetime, Carlson’s tenure at Fox News ended unceremoniously via a two-sentence statement from the network.
“Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” the network said. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”
Carlson has not commented on the matter publicly, although a source reportedly close to him did tell Vanity Fair that he was blindsided and also believes the Murdoch family intends to sell the company.
In any event, Fox News has managed to draw the ire of viewers, many of who have been vocal online that Carlson was the sole reason they tuned in.
Screenshots of canceled Fox Nation subscriptions have been plentiful on Twitter in the hours since Carlson’s termination was announced:
Fox News is home to a lot of quality commentary and news, but Carlson was more than a man in an anchor chair. He arguably anchored the network’s entire evening lineup.
Carlson’s biting monologues targeted the establishment in both of the country’s major political parties, and he never veered away from taking on topics — and people — his peers wouldn’t go near.
Fox News executives are probably betting viewers will remain loyal and engaged and that any backlash from booting Carlson will be temporary.
Conservatives have been canceled, laughed at by Hollywood, and looked down on by corporate news and big business for years.
Former President Donald Trump’s 2016 election shocked the world and shifted the movement toward one that fights back.
Carlson, whose show was launched a week after that election, was an important voice in the fight, and his monologues alone had the power to carry entire news cycles.
It has been clear for some time that taxpaying citizens who would prefer to mind their own business and live and let live are now punching back at the country’s corrupted institutions.
After Monday it is clear that many, many conservatives view Fox News as just another one of them.
I cancelled as soon as I found out.
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