The cable news world was flipped on its head Monday as both Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon were ousted from their respective roles at Fox News and CNN in a bombshell media shakeup.
The departure of the polarizing Carlson from Fox News came a few days after Fox’s massive $787 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems — and in the wake of Carlson’s private texts coming to light because of that defamation suit over the network’s false election fraud claims. Also, Carlson had been named in a discrimination lawsuit filed by a Fox News producer who was fired.
CNN soured on Lemon following his comments a couple of months ago about presidential candidate Nikki Haley, stating on air that women in their 50s are no longer in their prime.
“Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon are two very different firings,” Tobe Berkovitz, associate professor of Advertising emeritus at Boston University, told the Herald on Monday.
“Carlson went because he besmirched Rupert Murdoch and the Fox News channel brand, and that’s just something that Murdoch won’t stand for, even if Carlson is his prime star,” Berkovitz said, later adding about Lemon, “He’s been the piñata for CNN for a long time, while Fox pulled the plug on Carlson when he was on top.”
Fox News in a statement did not explain why Carlson was leaving.
“FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” Fox News said in a statement. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”
His last program was on Friday, April 21. Fox News Tonight will have rotating Fox News personalities until a new host is named.
Because of the Dominion lawsuit, Carlson’s texts came to light. He wrote about his “hate” for former President Donald Trump, and his concerns that the network was losing viewers among Trump’s fans.
“Carlson’s numbers were still super strong,” Berkovitz said. “He thrives on controversy, and he thrives on battling what he considers ‘the woke insider beltway bad people.’ That never bothered Fox. That was fine.
“But when you trash your own brand and your own brand is run by Murdoch, bye bye,” he added.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Carlson’s departure was also tied to the discrimination lawsuit filed by the fired Fox News producer, Abby Grossberg. She claimed that Fox lawyers had pressured her to give misleading testimony in the Dominion lawsuit.
Meanwhile on Monday, CNN chairman and CEO Chris Licht announced that CNN and Lemon had “parted ways.”
Lemon then took to Twitter, saying he had been terminated.
“After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly,” Lemon posted. “At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network.”
Lemon had been moved to “CNN This Morning,” but the show’s ratings have been struggling in the competitive time slot.
“They wanted to try to keep him and moved him into another slot, but he just doesn’t play ball well,” Berkovitz said. “He’s just not a big enough draw to put up with the trouble.”
“Don Lemon has been past his prime for a long time,” he added.
The news about Carlson and Lemon came a day after Jeff Shell, the chief executive of NBCUniversal, left the company after an investigation into inappropriate conduct. Shell in a statement called it “an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company.”
Herald wire services were used in this report.
