Well, that was quick.
Fifteen days after exiting Fox News Media, Tucker Carlson announced that he’ll be launching a new version of his former Fox News show on Twitter.
Nope, not Newsmax, not OANN, and not Rumble. Twitter.
The Washington Post raised the possibility last week that Carlson might take his commentary to the social media platform. WaPo reported how shortly before leaving Fox, Carlson had a briefing from Twitter tech staff about new features for subscriptions and other ways for content creators to make money from the platform.
Carlson presented an interview with Twitter CEO Elon Musk on his Fox News show last month, just weeks before his departure from the network.
Musk did add the following message in regard to the news that Carlson is producing content on his platform:
On this platform, unlike the one-way street of broadcast, people are able to interact, critique and refute whatever is said.
And, of course, anything misleading will get @CommunityNotes.
I also want to be clear that we have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever. Tucker is… https://t.co/0TMjuYnKUp
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 9, 2023
Broadcasting a show on Twitter would seem to mean that Carlson is breaking his non-compete and will have to forgo the $25 million owed to him by Fox for the remainder of his contract, which runs out in January 2025. However, according to Axios. his lawyer sent a letter to Fox Corp chief legal officer Viet Dinh and Fox News communications head Irena Briganti, saying that Fox staffers, including the boss Rupert Murdoch himself, breached the contract first by breaking promises to Carlson “intentionally and with reckless disregard for the truth.”
In the video posted Tuesday afternoon from his verified account, Carlson said, “There aren’t many platforms left that allow free speech. The last big one remaining in the world, the only one is Twitter, where we are now. Twitter has long served as the place where our national conversation incubates and develops.”
From what appears to be his compound in rural Maine, Carlson adds, “Twitter is not a partisan site. Everybody is allowed here and we think that is a good thing. And yet for the most part, the news that you see analyzed on Twitter comes from media organizations that are themselves thinly disguised propaganda outlets. You see it on cable news, you talk about it on Twitter.
The result may feel like a debate, but actually the gatekeepers are still in charge. We think that’s a bad system. We know exactly how it works and we’re sick of it.”
The longtime cable newser then said his show will launch on Twitter, “starting soon.”
We’re back. pic.twitter.com/sG5t9gr60O
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 9, 2023