Former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson slammed her old employer during a Thursday appearance on CNN.
Asked why Tucker Carlson and other star hosts push “the big lie” around the 2020 election, among other things, and why the Murdoch family allows their network to do so, Carlson responded, “Ratings, I think, first and foremost, but this is the result of fake news. You know, we’re seeing not only the fallout from fake news during the Trump era, but what happened with the insurrection on Jan. 6, and now it’s moving into other areas, not just news. Now it’s hitting science with vaccines and now it’s into Cold War politics.”
She appeared on CNN’s new 9 p.m. ET show “Democracy in Peril,” where she discussed Fox News with Jim Acosta. Carlson famously left the network in 2016 and sued it and late boss Roger Ailes, accusing him of sexual misconduct. She has since advocated for the rights of women in the workplace, fighting against non-disclosure agreements.
She went on, telling Acosta, “This is where we are now. Conservative television news is certainly not the conservative news that was out there even just five years ago.”
She did note, while discussing the revelation that top Fox News hosts were texting former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the deadly Capitol riot, that she isn’t sure the same thing doesn’t happen between left-leaning hosts and Democratic administrations.