Here’s What Tucker Carlson Said In Lawsuits That Reportedly Led To His Firing

Topline

Fox News heavyweight Tucker Carlson was suddenly fired from the network on Monday, days after it settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million, with multiple outlets reporting his ouster was linked to comments Carlson made that were unearthed during that case, as well as allegations against him and his show in a separate pending suit.

Tucker Carlson speaks during 2022 FOX Nation Patriot Awards on November 17, 2022 in Hollywood, … [+], Florida.

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Key Facts

The Dominion case—in which the voting company alleged Fox defamed it by pushing false election claims on the network despite knowing they were false—exposed scores of text messages Carlson sent with others at the network, and the Post reports it was specifically his “comments about Fox colleagues” that played a role in his ouster.

Carlson’s text messages show him repeatedly denigrating Fox News’ non-prime time news anchors and the network acknowledging President Joe Biden’s win, asking, “Do the executives understand how much credibility and trust we’ve lost with our audience?” and saying Fox was “playing with fire.”

Carlson and fellow anchors Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham discussed “forcing a change” at Fox in protest of the news side of the network, and Carlson advocated for Fox journalist Jacqui Heinrich to be fired after she questioned voter fraud claims, saying her actions need to stop “immediately” and asking, “Why would we allow some 27 year old fake reporter to wreck our network?”

He also criticized the network’s decision to end Lou Dobbs’ program, saying he “think[s] this will give energy to CNN and other forces seeking to kill us,” and complained about Fox’s Senior VP of Corporate Communications Irena Briganti, telling his fellow anchors, “She hates us” and asking why she works at Fox.

“Those f-ckers are destroying our credibility,” Carlson said in text messages with an unknown recipient, blaming Fox’s issues on “a combination of incompetent liberals and top leadership with too much pride to back down.”

The person he was texting with also floated Carlson doing a podcast “to connect with that audience that is upset with Fox,” which would be connected to Fox News but also operated through Carlson’s own personal website.

Grossberg’s lawsuits, which were filed in New York and Delaware against Fox and Carlson specifically, among other defendants, allege Carlson’s show is “a work environment that subjugates women based on vile sexist stereotypes, typecasts religious minorities and belittles their traditions, and demonstrates little to no regard for those suffering from mental illness.”

The producer, who worked as a talent booker for Carlson before Fox placed her on administrative leave, alleges male employees at Carlson’s show repeatedly made sexist comments and discriminated against her because she was a woman and Jewish.

Grossberg alleges photos of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a bathing suit were blown up around the office to make fun of her appearance, male staffers frequently had group discussions with “misogynistic views of women as objects to be judged solely based on their appearance,” and male employees said women with tattoos or piercings were “disgusting” and “should be shunned,” among other alleged comments and incidents.

Grossberg and other female employees allegedly suffered severe anxiety as a result of male staffers’ alleged sexism, and Grossberg claimed she was “frequently shut out of important meetings” and given a lower position, allegedly because she was a woman.

While the alleged comments in Grossberg’s case were not made by Carlson directly—though some claims did involve producer Justin Wells, who was reportedly also dismissed Monday—Grossberg alleges that when she complained about the harassment she faced to her superior, she was told, “This is Tucker’s tone and just the pace of the show,” and she alleges she was mistreated because male staffers were “inspired, permitted, and enabled to do so by Mr.Carlson himself.”

The lawsuit also cites a number of comments and controversies from Carlson separate from Grossberg’s allegations as further evidence of his alleged sexism, such as him saying in 2019 that women are “extremely primitive” and, about reports that students at his teenage daughter’s boarding school were “experimenting sexually with each other,” “If it weren’t my daughter, I would love that scenario.”

What To Watch For

It’s still unclear what Carlson’s next steps will be in the media industry, and if he’ll take any legal action against Fox over his termination. The ex-anchor has reportedly retained entertainment lawyer Bryan Freedman, who has not yet responded to a request for comment. While Fox’s case with Dominion has been settled, the network still faces a second defamation lawsuit from rival voting company Smartmatic, which similarly takes aim at fraud claims Fox made on-air following the 2020 election involving the company’s machines. That case and Grossberg’s lawsuits against the network are pending.

What We Don’t Know

The full extent of Carlson’s comments against Fox News executives made in the Dominion filing, as many are still redacted and were never publicly released during the case. Fox News’ fear that more of those messages may have been unearthed and come to light reportedly contributed to the reasons behind Carlson’s firing, according to Puck.

Tangent

In addition to the Dominion and Grossberg lawsuits, Carlson also faces the threat of a defamation suit from Trump supporter Ray Epps, a January 6 riot attendee who’s become the center of a conspiracy theory alleging he was a government informant planted at the riot to instigate the attack. After Carlson repeatedly promoted the conspiracy theory on air, lawyers for Epps sent a cease and desist letter to the anchor in March asking him to retract his comments, a potential precursor to a defamation suit.

Chief Critic

When asked about reports suggesting Carlson’s firing was tied to the Dominion and Grossberg cases, Fox News pointed Forbes toward its previous statement on Carlson’s dismissal, which said only, “FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.” The network has decried Grossberg’s allegations against the network as “unmeritorious” and “riddled with false allegations against the network and our employees.” Fox settled the Dominion case for $787.5 million but did not apologize for any of its on-air claims as part of the settlement and previously denied the allegations, saying only after the settlement was reached that it “acknowledge[s] the Court’s rulings finding certain claims about Dominion to be false.”

Key Background

Carlson was suddenly ousted from his job at Fox News Monday less than a week after the network’s settlement with Dominion, which took place on April 18 as an anticipated five-week trial in the case was set to begin. The ex-anchor began his career at Fox as a contributor in 2009 before moving to prime time in 2016 and taking over the 8 p.m. time slot from Bill O’Reilly in 2017. The network’s most-watched anchor, Carlson earned between $15 and $20 million per year hosting Tucker Carlson Tonight, sources familiar with contract negotiations at the network confirmed to Forbes, and news of his dismissal sent the company’s stock price tumbling Monday, wiping out $700 million in market value as of Monday afternoon. Carlson’s dismissal came after the anchor had made it through a series of previous controversies throughout his tenure at Fox, and most recently had drawn widespread criticism for using exclusive footage of the January 6 riot to downplay the attack.