Tucker Carlson, Fox News’ favorite anchor, out on the network

There was no immediate explanation from Fox as to why Carlson left.

New York • Fox News said Monday it had “agreed to part ways with Tucker Carlson, its popular and controversial host,” less than a week after settling a lawsuit over the network’s 2020 election coverage.

The network said in a press release that the last episode of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” aired on Friday.

“We thank him for his service to the network as a host and before that as a contributor,” the network’s press release said.

Carlson became Fox’s most popular personality after replacing Bill O’Reilly in Fox’s prime-time lineup in 2016. He has also consistently made headlines for controversial reporting, most recently broadcasting tapes of the January 6 riot at the Capitol to minimize the impact of the deadly attack.

There was no immediate explanation from Fox as to why Carlson left. A text message to Carlson asking for comment was not immediately returned.

Fox last week agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems more than $787 million, acknowledging that some of its reporting after the 2020 election – which allowed former President Donald Trump’s aides to admit false allegations of voter fraud – was lost reinforce – was wrong.

But that coverage was mostly of other shows, not Carlson’s. His name surfaced during the case, largely based on email and text messages leaked as part of the lawsuit.

Carlson and other Fox anchors were caught in private messages questioning their own network’s claims about Dominion’s role in the alleged voter fraud, while also worrying that Fox was losing audience among Trump fans at the time . In some of them, Carlson privately criticized Trump, saying he passionately hated him.

A few weeks ago, Carlson dedicated his entire show to an interview with Trump.

“Fox News Tonight” will initially air in Carlson’s prime-time slot at 8:00 p.m. ET, hosted by a rotating cast of network personalities.