Two weeks after being fired by Fox News, Tucker Carlson is now fighting back.
Axios reports that Carlson claims the network breached its contract with him and accuses it of deceit.
By arguing that Fox violated the contract, Carlson asserts that he is now free to pursue his career as he sees appropriate.
In this regard, he announced on Tuesday that he will host a Twitter program.
“Starting soon, we’ll be bringing a new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter. We’ll be bringing some other things too, which we’ll tell you about,” he said in a video.
“But for now, we’re just grateful to be here. Free speech is the main right that you have. Without it, you have no others. See you soon.”
We’re back. pic.twitter.com/sG5t9gr60O
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 9, 2023
Axios reported that Carlson’s counsel sent a letter to Fox prior to Carlson’s announcement of a new endeavor.
Although Fox removed Carlson from his position, he remains under contract until January 2025. Fox is willing to continue paying Carlson, but he wants out of his contract and to venture out on his own.
Since his termination from Fox, Carlson has received multiple job proposals from other news outlets and media companies.
According to Carlson’s letter, Fox executives, including Rupert Murdoch, violated commitments “intentionally and with reckless disregard for the truth.”
The letter asserts that Fox executives made “material representations” to Carlson, which, according to the letter, constitutes fraud. According to Axios’s sources, the executives in question were Murdoch and Fox’s chief legal officer, Viet Dinh.
Fox promised in the letter that it would not disclose Carlson’s private communications or use them “to take any adverse employment action against him.”
The letter also asserts that Fox breached its promise not to resolve the litigation filed against it by Dominion Voting Systems “in a manner that would indicate wrongdoing” on the part of Tucker Carlson or to take actions that would harm his reputation.
A Fox board member reportedly informed Carlson that the $787.5 million settlement was the reason for his dismissal.
“These actions not only breached the covenant of good faith and fair dealing in the Agreement, but give rise to claims for breach of contract, and intentional and negligent misrepresentation,” the letter says.
Both Fox and Dominion have stated that Carlson’s termination was unrelated to the settlement.
“Dominion did not insist on them firing Tucker Carlson as part of the settlement,” said Stephen Shackelford, an attorney who represented Dominion.
The letter alleges that Fox’s communications chief Irena Briganti attempted to “undermine, embarrass, and interfere” with Carlson’s post-Fox opportunities.
Megyn Kelly, a former Fox News anchor, has theorized that Briganti is responsible for leaking off-air remarks made by Tucker Carlson on the set of his program. Kelly asserted that Briganti “f***ing hates Tucker… She loathes him to the core.
On a recent earnings call, Fox CEO Lachlan Murdoch stated that there will be no significant changes to the network in the near future. Fox reported a $50 million quarterly loss owing in part to the Dominion settlement.