According to a new report, weeks before Tucker Carlson was dismissed from Fox News, Rupert Murdoch spoke privately with one of Carlson’s favored on-air targets, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Sunday’s report from Semafor did not indicate that Fox News fired Carlson for opposing U.S. involvement in Ukraine’s conflict with Russia, something he had done for more than a year.
However, it adds to a series of reports indicating that everything from the way Carlson spoke about religion to the private messages uncovered during the discovery phase of a litigation has placed distance between the Fox lords and Carlson.
According to the report, Zelenskyy’s conversation with Murdoch this spring occurred alongside a March 15 conversation with his son, Lachlan Murdoch, who directly supervises Fox News.
Although Ukrainian officials had made their concerns about Carlson’s opposition to U.S. aid for Ukraine obvious to Fox executives, according to Semafor, “Zelenskyy did not raise it on the calls with the Murdochs, according to one person familiar with the details of the calls.”
For last night’s @semafor media newsletter, I wrote about recent private calls between the Murdochs and Zelensky, and why Republican supporters of Ukraine are pleased that the Murdochs fired Tucker https://t.co/sNHw3BybFC
— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) May 1, 2023
According to the report, the April 24 firing of the “Tucker Carlson Tonight” host is anticipated to make life simpler for pro-Ukraine Republicans.
“Clearly, he spooked a lot of members into not being fully supportive of Ukraine,” a senior Republican congressional aide told Semafor, adding that firing Carlson “probably reduces the loudest voice out there against U.S. support.”
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Rupert Murdoch disapproved of Tucker Carlson’s stance on U.S. involvement in Ukraine.
The report, citing an unnamed source, stated that in March, Murdoch opposed Carlson’s position in a Fox editorial meeting.
The Post reported that when the two men had dinner in mid-April, Murdoch “was disturbed by Carlson’s stance on Ukraine.”
More on this story via The Western Journal:
SkyNews Australia host Andrew Bolt suggested last week that some of Carlson’s Ukraine allegations may have pushed Murdoch’s buttons once too often.
Carlson, Holt said, was “pushing dangerous and plainly false conspiracy theories” that claimed Ukraine was “hopelessly corrupt and the Biden team as liars for supporting it.” CONTINUE READING…