Tucker Carlson is back.
The former Fox News host, who parted ways with the network last month, announced in a video Tuesday that he would relaunch his show on Elon Musk’s Twitter.
“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. But for now, we’re just grateful to be here,” Carlson said, looking directly into the camera.
In the three-minute video, he characterized Twitter as the last platform dedicated to free speech, echoing Musk’s own proclaimed allegiance to the idea.
We’re back. Pic.twitter.com/sG5t9gr60O
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 9, 2023
“Speech is the fundamental prerequisite for democracy. That’s why it was enshrined in the first of our constitutional amendments,” Carlson said. “Amazingly, as of tonight, there are not that many platforms left that allow free speech. The last big one remaining…is Twitter, where we are now.”
Carlson will reportedly forgo a severance of at least $25 million from Fox to instead produce his new Twitter show, according to Dylan Byers, a reporter at Puck News.
🚨 NEWS: Tucker Carlson will relaunch his show *on Twitter* with help from former Fox News staff. He will forgo at least $25 million owed to him by Fox Corp. In order to break non-compete clause.@PuckNews
— Dylan Byers (@DylanByers) May 9, 2023
Fox News announced in April that Carlson, well-known right-wing face of prime-time show Tucker Carlson Tonight since 2016, would no longer be employed by the network.
The sudden announcement came days after Fox agreed to settle a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million over false claims that it had manipulated voting in the 2020 presidential election against Donald Trump. Carlson had been among those at the network who spread those false claims on air while privately dismissing them.
In the video he posted on Tuesday, Carlson criticized mainstream media as untrustworthy.
“At the most basic level, the information you consume is a lie. A lie of the stealthiest and most insidious kind,” he said.
Carlson’s lawyers reportedly sent a letter to Fox News accusing the network of breach of contract and fraud on Tuesday, according to Axios. In the letter, the lawyers also reportedly argued that terms in Carlson’s contract with Fox that prevented him from working for a competitor no longer applied, allowing him to launch his own show or media enterprise.
Days before Carlson left Fox News, he interviewed Musk on air about Musk’s plans to create TruthGPT, a rival to the viral OpenAI chatbot ChatGPT. The tool, Musk added, would be “maximum truth-seeking A.I. That tries to understand the nature of the universe.”
But under Musk, who calls himself a “free speech absolutist,” misinformation on Twitter has soared. Interactions through engaging with tweets from misinformation “superspreader” accounts increased 44% since the billionaire bought Twitter in October. False information and misleading claims on divisive topics like climate change also rose under Musk’s leadership, according to the Associated Press.
It’s unclear when Carlson’s new “show” on Twitter will debut.
This is a breaking news story, please check back for updates.
