Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon are the latest national news anchors to lose their on-air jobs, but they’re far from the first.
In a press release, Fox News announced Monday the network and Carlson had “parted ways.” Carlson’s primetime program, “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” was one of Fox News’ highest-rated programs since its inception in 2016. A New York Times study showed that while his show welcomed opposing perspectives in its early years, it began to lean increasingly to the right — and far right. The study also showed how the host pushed extremist talking points through his monologues. In fact, Fox News lawyers themselves said in court back in 2020 that Carlson is not “stating actual facts” in his program. His dismissal comes days after the network agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $800 million to avert a defamation trial.
Lemon tweeted that he was “stunned” after learning his employment with CNN had been terminated. Earlier this year, Lemon was moved to “CNN Morning This Morning,” where he drew ire from viewers for saying 51-year-old Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley “isn’t in her prime.” He later apologized for those comments.
Click through to see more network news anchors who have been fired from their high-profile jobs.
Raquel “Rocky” Harris contributed to this story.
Tucker Carlson
As of April 24, Tucker Carlson is no longer at Fox News and his show has been canceled.
“FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” read a statement from Fox News Media, obtained by TheWrap. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”
“Fox News Tonight” will air live at 8 p.m. ET beginning Monday “as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named.”
Don Lemon
As of April 24, Don Lemon is no longer working at CNN.
“I was informed this morning by my agent that I have terminated by CNN,” Lemon posted to his social media Monday. “After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly.
CNN contradicted Lemon in their own statement, writing “Don Lemon’s statement about this morning’s events is inaccurate,” the network said. “He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter.”
At the time of his dismissal, Lemon was a co-anchor on “CNN This Morning” for six months. Prior to that, Lemon hosted his own nightly program, “Don Lemon Tonight,” for eight years.
Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes
Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes’s time at “GMA3” came to a halt when their romantic relationship was revealed in November 2022 via captured photos. Before the controversy, Robach started her career at ABC News, appearing as a correspondent on the network’s show “Good Morning America” in 2012. She was promoted to news anchor on March 31, 2014. Holmes started his career at ABC News in 2014, also serving as a correspondent for “Good Morning America” In September 2020, Holmes and Robach became co-anchors for “Good Morning America’s “GMA3: What You Need To Know.”
Before they were fired, ABC News temporarily removed Robach and Holmes off air in December 2022 following reports of their affair. They were both officially let go from the network in January 2023. The two have since gone public with their relationship.
Chris Cuomo
Chris Cuomo joined CNN in February 2013, making his debut as a field reporter during an episode of “Piers Morgan Tonight.” He then moved on to co-anchoring CNN’s morning show “New Day,” and was later granted his own show on the network “Cuomo Prime Time,” which aired from June 4, 2018 to November 29, 2021. Chris Cuomo’s end at CNN came after it was reported that Cuomo advised his brother Andrew Cuomo about the sexual allegations made against him.
Cuomo was initially suspended, but the office of the New York Attorney General released documents that showed Cuomo used his professional contacts as a journalist to learn information about his brother’s accusers. CNN officially terminated Cuomo at the beginning of December in 2022, and Cuomo has since filed a lawsuit against CNN for $125 million over alleged wrongful termination. Cuomo now anchors his own show at NewsNation.
Matt Lauer
In November 2017, Lauer’s role as co-anchor of “The Today Show” was terminated after a female NBC employee reported Lauer had sexually harassed her during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Later, producer Brooke Nevils alleged that Lauer sexually assaulted her in his hotel room during the Games.
Charlie Rose
Rose, who hosted his own show on PBS and co-anchored “CBS This Morning,” was fired from both shows in November 2017 after eight women accused him of sexual misconduct, ranging from unwanted touching to making lewd phone calls.
Bill O’Reilly
O’Reilly was one of the biggest names in cable news — and most sued. Over the years, Fox News and O’Reilly settled five sexual misconduct lawsuits totaling tens of millions of dollars. In April 2017, the host announced on “The O’Reilly Factor’ that he would be taking a vacation. The following week, Fox News announced that he would not be returning.
Eric Bolling
Bolling hosted Fox Business News’ program and was one of the panelists on “The Five.” He was terminated in September 2017 after the network began an internal investigation into sexual misconduct claims, including showing lewd photographs and texts.
Bolling now works at Newsmax.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, Bolling’s co-host on “The Five,” resigned while the subject of an internal investigation of sexual harassment.
Ed Henry
Henry joined Fox News in 2011, where he co-hosted “America’s Newsroom.” He was suspended in 2016 when details of his extramarital affair with a Las Vegas hostess. He was again suspended in late June 2020 when a coworker accused him of sexual harassment. He was terminated a few days after following an internal investigation.
Henry landed at Real American Voice, a network that peddles far-right conspiracy theories.
Megyn Kelly
In 2017, Kelly landed her own daytime TV talk show at NBC after gaining popularity as the host of “America Live” on Fox News. A year into hosting “Megyn Kelly Today,” Kelly’s comments about the appropriateness of blackface on Halloween landed her in hot water. She issued an on-air apology, but two days later her show was canceled. She departed NBC in January 2019.
Kelly now hosts her own conservative podcast.
Melissa Francis
Francis, a host on Fox News’s “Outnumbered,” claims she was fired via a message on her teleprompter that read “You’ve been canceled” in October 2020, just moments before she was supposed to go live.
Francis took the issue to the New York Department of Labor, which announced in December of 2021 that they would pursue an investigation “over [her] gender discrimination and retaliation complaints.” While Francis did not confirm the settlement herself, the Washington Post reported in June that she and Fox had reached a $15 million settlement.
