Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly on Monday called the cable channel’s decision to fire Tucker Carlson a “terrible move,” and wondered why he was axed instead of fellow anchors Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro, or even CEO Suzanne Scott.
On her Sirius XM podcast, Kelly said, “This is a terrible move by Fox, and it’s a great thing for Tucker Carlson. I don’t know what drove Fox News to make this decision, and it was clearly Fox News’s decision because they’re not letting him say goodbye. That’s my supposition. That’s not inside knowledge… I think this is a massive error. I think this is a massive misjudgment of what their audience wants.
She went on to speculate that Carlson was fired over the now-settled Dominion lawsuit, which made public Carlson’s personal dislike of Donald Trump, despite his devout on-air loyalty to the former president.
However, sources told TheWrap that the high-profile lawsuit was not the reason Carlson was fired, but that there was a separate issue involved. According to the Los Angeles Times, the decision to fire Carlson was Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch’s and was related to a discrimination lawsuit filed by former Fox News producer Abby Grossberg. In her lawsuit, in which she also accuses the network of setting her up to take the fall in its defamation case against Dominion Voting Systems, Grossberg said that as a producer on Carlson’s show she witnessed sexist jokes and was asked about host Maria Bartiromo’s sex life after moving over from Bartiromo’s show in 2022. Grossberg says also that Carlson’s staff frequently made sexist and antisemitic jokes.
Kelly, who left Fox News in 2017, said Rupert Murdoch “made enough admissions during his deposition to sink the company at the trial without the help from Tucker. …Why would they want Tucker’s scalp? They would want Maria’s scalp. They would want Jeanine Pirro’s scalp. They would want Suzanne Scott’s scalp.”
As for Carlson’s next movie, she predicted, “This is going to be great for Tucker. I’m not worried about Tucker at all. I predict Tucker goes independent. Tucker launches a podcast or digital show and crushes it. Absolutely crushes it. … A lot of people think he’s going to run for office. I don’t think so. I just don’t think so. Tucker’s got way more influence sitting behind a microphone than he does standing on a debate stage.”
She added, “Tucker’s the only reason a lot of people still watch Fox News, with respect to my other colleagues there, I’m saying he’s their favorite.”
Several people on social media echoed her sentiments, with the hashtag #DoneWithFox trending as people swore off the channel, with one person tweeting, “This is not the end of Tucker, but it is for Fox News. I am done with Fox. Rest in Peace Fox News.”
