Topline
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov Tuesday criticized Tucker Carlson’s ouster from Fox News and implied that his ouster reflected a lack of support for free speech and differing viewpoints, a remark that follows public job offers made to the former primetime host by Kremlin-controlled outlets.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks during a news conference at the United Nations.
Key Facts
Lavrov made his unprompted remarks about Carlson’s axing while addressing a press conference at the United Nations on Tuesday while criticizing the U.S. for denying visas to Russian journalists.
Pivoting the conversation towards the state of “freedom of speech in the United States”, Lavrov called Carlson’s exit from Fox “curious news” and even asked “What is this related to? One can only guess.”
Lavrov then added that Carlson’s departure from Fox News means “the wealth of views in the American information space has suffered.”
Carlson has been a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s decision to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, and clips from his now-canceled primetime show have appeared regularly on Russian state-run outlets.
In his remarks to the press, Lavrov also claimed the European Union was increasingly becoming a militarized entity designed to contain Russia along with NATO.
News Peg
The Russian foreign minister’s remarks come just a day after some major Russian state-run outlets publicly offered Carlson a job. The Kremlin-run international network RT—formerly Russia Today—tweeted at Carlson: “You can always question more with RT.” Later on Monday, one of Russia’s most prominent TV anchors and pro-Putin propagandists, Vladimir Solovyov, also offered Carlson a spot on his web show Solovyov Live. On Telegram, the show’s official handle shared a screenshot of an email sent to Carlson, which praised him for being the “last remaining voice of reason” in the U.S. mainstream media. “You have our admiration and support in any endeavor you choose for yourself next, be it running for President of the United States (which you should totally do, by the way) or making an independent media project,” the email said. Solovyov Live also said it would “happily offer” Carlson a job, adding “You don’t have to be afraid of taking the piss out of Biden here.”
Key Background
Fox News announced Carlson’s departure from the network on Monday, without offering any details or explanations. The shocking announcement appeared to have caught everybody, including Carlson and people at the network, off guard. In his last primetime broadcast on Friday, Carlson made no mention of any plans to leave, and the network itself was promoting Carlson’s unaired interview with long-shot GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy as late as Monday morning. The Wall Street Journal reported that Carlson had been fired by Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott and Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch, who had made up their minds last Friday.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/04/26/curious-news-russian-foreign-minister-criticizes-tucker-carlsons-ouster-from-fox/