(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Fox News representatives reportedly made threats against Tucker Carlson’s attorneys, accusing that the former Fox primetime anchor breached his multi-million dollar contract by unleashing his highly anticipated public return on Twitter.
Axios reported that this notice put Fox in a position where they could pursue legal action against Carlson. One of Carlson’s attorneys defended his freedom of speech in a statement to the news outlet.
“Fox defends its very existence on freedom of speech grounds,” attorney Bryan Freedman said. “Now they want to take Tucker Carlson’s right to speak freely away from him because he took to social media to share his thoughts on current events.”
Fox ousted Carlson, the network’s most-watched personality, on April 24 following the controversial $787 million settlement in a lawsuit involving Dominion Voting Systems. However, the reasons behind the shocking exit remain unclear. Fox has repeatedly called allegations that the exit was in part of the settlement “categorically false.”
Shortly after Carlson’s departure, Fox reportedly attempted to pay him his contracted salary, amounting to $20 million per year. However, the terms of the contract would have prevented Carlson from taking his show elsewhere or publicly discussing Fox News.
Conservative and Republican supporters of Carlson responded negatively to the notice sent by Fox News, with some calling for a boycott and others accusing the network of trying to silence Carlson.
Conservative commentator and attorney Rogan O’Handley, who posts under DC Draino, asked his followers on Tuesday, “Maybe we boycott Fox News until they stop trying to silence one of the biggest voices before 2024?”
Echoing Draino’s sentiments, the conservative Twitter account “End Wokeness” accused Fox of adopting leftist views and called for a boycott. “Fox News did a segment celebrating trans kids in honor of Pride Month,” the account stated. “Now Fox News is fighting to keep Tucker Carlson off the air until 2025. It’s time for a Bud-Lighting of Fox.”
Journalist and host of the Timcast podcast, Tim Pool, commented that Fox News is attempting to replicate what Project Veritas did to investigative journalist James O’Keefe, who was ousted by the company’s board.
“Veritas suspends O’Keefe but locks him in the company. Fox suspends Tucker but keeps him in the company. And then both get sued for trying to do their work. It seems a little bit odd,” Pool remarked.
In a little over 24 hours, the first episode of Tucker on Twitter has garnered more than 95 million views.
Ep. 1 pic.twitter.com/O7CdPjF830
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 6, 2023
