The announcement of Tucker Carlson parting ways with Fox News was met with jubilation by the hosts of The View, a popular daytime talk show.
Whoopi Goldberg broke the news to the show’s audience and her fellow co-hosts during the Monday broadcast, saying, “Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. They thank him for his service to the network and prior to that as a contributor.”
Goldberg then led a Mexican Wave celebration, which was joined by fellow presenters, including Sunny Hostin.
.@TheView's reaction to Tucker Carlson and Fox News parting ways is everyone else's reaction to Don Lemon being fired from CNN pic.twitter.com/KabLEl3sHw
— MRCTV (@mrctv) April 24, 2023
Co-host Ana Navarro took the celebration a step further, asking the audience to join her in singing the chorus of Steam’s 1969 hit “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye”, a cheeky send-off for Carlson.
Fox News confirmed to The Independent that Tucker Carlson Tonight aired its final show on Friday, April 21.
Fox News had recently faced embarrassment due to revelations in pre-trial court filings from the Dominion lawsuit, which shed light on its coverage of the aftermath of the 2020 presidential elections.
It was revealed that Carlson and other hosts, including Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, privately mocked regular guests such as Donald Trump’s attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, while continuing to promote their lies and conspiracy theories to their audience.
Court documents also showed that Carlson called Trump a “demonic force” and expressed his passionate hatred for the former president in text messages to an unknown Fox employee just two days before the January 6 riots.
The hosts were spared from having to testify at trial when Dominion and Fox News reached a last-minute settlement of $787.5 million on Tuesday, April 20, after a jury had already been sworn in. The View’s lead hosts are generally known for their left-leaning political views, and former host Meghan McCain, a vocal Conservative, had previously written a scathing column about her “disastrous” time on the ABC chat show.
The departure of Tucker Carlson from Fox News marks the end of a controversial chapter for the network. As one of the highest paid hosts in the industry, with an estimated salary of $15 million to $20 million a year, Carlson had a significant following with his nightly talk show, Tucker Carlson Tonight. His program had held the coveted 8 p.m. ET slot since 2017 and was ranked as the No. 2 most watched show on cable last year, with an average of 3.3 million viewers each night, second only to Fox News’ roundtable sports program, The Five. Before his primetime slot, Carlson had been a political analyst for Fox News since 2009.
However, Fox News announced on Monday morning that they had parted ways with Carlson, and the network provided no further explanation for his sudden exit. His last show aired on Friday, April 21, without any sign-off or indication of his departure.
While Fox News declined to comment beyond the press release, Carlson’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, did not respond to questions at the time of publication.
