Tucker Carlson Beats BTS—And Taylor Swift, Elon Musk

Topline

Tucker Carlson’s video announcement earlier this week he would host a show on Twitter—two weeks after the former controversial Fox News host was ousted by the network—became the top-performing post on Twitter for the week, beating out Taylor Swift, Elon Musk and others.

Tucker Carlson’s video announcing a new show on Twitter was the most-liked post on Twitter this … [+] week.

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Key Facts

Carlson’s tweet Tuesday—which reads, “We’re back”—has accumulated more than 194,000 retweets and 891,500 likes as of 2:30 p.m. EST Saturday, the most in either category for the week ending on May 13.

Carlson, who parted ways with Fox News after 14 years, announced the return of his primetime news show on the platform with a video accompanying the tweet, suggesting there are “limits” to the stories that can be told on TV.

The tweet outperformed K-Pop superstars BTS—a photo of member Min Yoon-gi—which totaled over 176,600 retweets and 530,600 likes, though the post has been up for less than 24 hours.

Carlson also beat out Taylor Swift, who periodically posted updates from her “Eras Tour,” with her most-liked post totaling more than 56,000 retweets and 463,400 likes.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk also fell below Carlson, with a tweet announcing Twitter’s new CEO—NBCUniversal executive Linda Yaccarino—totaling over 36,100 retweets and 408,000 likes.

Big Number

1,088,201. That’s how many likes Swift received for a tweet announcing a re-recording of her 2010 album Speak Now, as the top-performing tweet last week.

Tangent

Despite Carlson’s announcement, Musk tweeted the social media platform had “not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever” with Carlson, adding, “Tucker is subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators.”

Key Background

Carlson, who was promoted to Fox News’ primetime slot in 2016 after first joining the network in 2009, “agreed to part ways” with the company late last month—though it has since been confirmed through multiple accounts that he was fired from the network. A text message sent by Carlson to one of his show’s producers describing a video of three Trump supporters attacking a person—noting he thought it was “dishonorable obviously” and that was “not how white men fight”—“set off a panic” among Fox’s leadership, according to the New York Times. Carlson also wrote he was “rooting for the mob against the man, hoping they’d hit him harder, kill him…I could taste it.” The message prompted an investigation by an outside law firm into Carlson’s conduct, which resulted in his dismissal from the network. Carlson was previously criticized for promoting white supremacist beliefs—which Carlson suggested was “not a real problem” in the U.S.—causing the Anti-Defamation League to condemn him 2021.

Tucker Carlson Beats BTS—And Taylor Swift, Elon Musk—On Twitter

Topline

Key Facts

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Tangent

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