According to a report published Sunday by Axios, former primetime cable news star Tucker Carlson is “preparing to unleash allies to attack Fox News” in an effort to get out of his network contract prior to its January 2025 expiration date, after the presidential election.
Citing “a close Carlson friend,” the news outlet reports, “They’re [Carlson allies] coming to him and saying: ‘Do you want me to hit Fox? He’s been saying: ‘No. I want to get this done quiet and clean.'”
Reportedly, that mindset has changed. “We’re going from peacetime to Defcon 1. His team is preparing for war. He wants his freedom,” the “close friend” adds.
Carlson’s lawyer Bryan Freedman, whose high profile clients include Megyn Kelly and Chris Cuomo, has been retained for the contract dispute. He told Axios: “The idea that anyone is going to silence Tucker and prevent him from speaking to his audience is beyond preposterous.”
Carlson reportedly wants Fox to let him work for — or start — a right-wing rival, sources tell Axios, and the outlet has been told that conservative outlets including Rumble and Newsmax have offered to pay Carlson more than his Fox contract.
The news outlet is also reporting that Carlson and Twitter CEO Elon Musk recently had a conversation about working together. Just weeks before his Fox News exit, Carlson sat down with Musk for an interview that aired on his 8 p.m. show over consecutive nights.
Sources close to Carlson told Axios that he’s looking at building a D2C media outlet where his significant fanbase could pay to watch him — similar to what Bill O’Reilly did after he left the network back in 2017.
In regards to Carlson’s exit, Fox News previously said in a statement, “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”