May 9 (Reuters) – Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who was taken off the air by the network last month, said on Tuesday he would relaunch his show on Twitter “soon.”
Fox News Media and Carlson agreed to part ways last month, shortly after parent company Fox Corp (FOXA.O) settled for $787.5 million a defamation lawsuit in which the top-rated host played a starring role.
The outspoken Carlson embraced conservative issues and delivered his views with a style that made his prime-time show, “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” the highest-rated cable news program in the key 25-to-54-age demographic on the most-watched U.S. cable news network.
Ratings slumped after his departure.
“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 in a video posted on the social media platform. “We bring some other things too, which we’ll tell you about. But for now, we’re just grateful to be here.”
Carlson’s announcement comes weeks after Twitter-owner Elon Musk sat for a two-part interview with Carlson on Fox News.
Musk, who is CEO of Twitter and has referred to himself as a “free speech absolutist,” has said his goal is to make Twitter a digital town hall where users can share diverse viewpoints.
“We have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever,” Musk tweeted Tuesday. “Tucker is subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators.”
That includes subscription and a share of advertising revenue, Musk said, adding, “Still working on the software needed for (the) latter.”
Musk said he hopes that others, “particularly from the left,” would also choose to be content creators on Twitter.
Axios reported that Carlson’s lawyers sent a letter to Fox accusing it of fraud and breach of contract.
Carlson’s attorney did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Fox Corp declined to comment.
Reporting by Eric Beech and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Tim Ahmann
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Source : Reuters