FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways, the network announced on Monday. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” a FOX News Media spokesperson said in a statement.
An interim program, “Fox News Tonight,” will air at 8 p.m. ET until a permanent replacement for Carlson is named. “Fox News Tonight” will be hosted by a rotation of various Fox News personalities. The last edition of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” aired on Friday, April 21. The show began airing in 2016.
Before the launch of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Carlson was co-host of “FOX & Friends Weekend” from 2012 through 2016. Carlson previously served as an MSNBC host from 2005-2008 and also appeared on CNN earlier in his career. He founded The Daily Caller in 2010, but sold his stake in the political news website in 2020.
Meanwhile, Don Lemon has been “terminated” by CNN after nearly two decades on air, TVLine has learned. Lemon made the announcement on Twitter, writing: “I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned. After 17 years at CNN, I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly.
“At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network,” his statement continued. “It is clear that there are some larger issues at play.
With that said, I want to thank my colleagues and the many teams I have worked with for an incredible run. They are the most talented journalists in the business, and I wish them all the best.”
CNN chairman and CEO Chris Licht also released a brief memo to staff, which reads as follows: To my CNN Colleagues, CNN and Don have parted ways. Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years. We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors. CNN This Morning has been on the air for nearly six months, and we are committed to its success.
According to TV Line, Lemon’s termination comes three weeks after our sister site Variety published an exposé in which more than a dozen of Lemon’s former and current colleagues outlined a pattern of allegedly misogynistic, inappropriate and “diva-like” behavior at the cable news network, and more than two months after he received backlash for a sexist statement he made on CNN This Morning in February.
