Fired Fox News host Tucker Carlson released the first episode of what he says will be a new Twitter-based version of his old show on Tuesday night, a 10-minute monologue tinged with conspiratorial thinking and drenched with disdain for other media and political figures.
Carlson alluded briefly to his surprise dismissal from Fox, claiming that a “small group of people” control the nation’s flow of information and forbid discussion “that really matters.”
“If you keep it up, they’ll make you be quiet,” Carlson said. “Trust us.”
During his nearly seven years on Fox, Carlson’s show boasted prime-time production values, heavy with guests and graphics. By comparison, his “Tucker on Twitter” show featured the host sitting in front of bare wooden bookshelves and few graphics, aside from an illustration of Carlson fly-fishing. Some broadcast veterans observed that Carlson appeared to be controlling his teleprompter by himself.
Carlson announced the Twitter show in May, at a time when it appeared he was ready to escalate a conflict with Fox over the terms of his exit.
His contract with Fox would technically keep him off the air through the end of 2024. A person familiar with Carlson’s thinking last month told The Post that the far-right pundit is considering relinquishing the millions Fox would owe him to maintain some kind of media presence. But at the same time, his lawyer has accused Fox of breaching the contract, suggesting a financial fight ahead.
Within three hours of posting the video, Carlson had earned 16 million views, according to publicly available Twitter metrics.
Carlson and Fox News didn’t respond to requests for comment.
When Carlson announced the show in May, Twitter owner Elon Musk emphasized that he had not struck any kind of business deal with Carlson to bring his show to the social media site. On Tuesday evening, Musk retweeted Carlson’s video, with a note adding that it would “be great to have shows from all parts of the political spectrum on this platform!”
In his monologue, Carlson praised Twitter as a contemporary version of shortwave radio sets that Soviet dissidents used to learn about the West, but he suggested that he would leave if he clashed with Musk about the site’s moderation policies.
“We’re told there are no gatekeepers here,” Carlson said. “If that turns out to be false, we’ll leave. But in the meantime, we’re grateful to be here.”
Carlson picked up some of his usual, conspiracy-theory-tinged topics and sympathies to the Russian government in the video, calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “sweaty and rat-like” and suggesting without evidence that Ukraine was responsible for the destruction of a major dam on its territory. He also accused mainstream media outlets of suppressing a claim from a former military officer that the U.S. government has secret knowledge of alien spacecraft.
Carlson’s firing came shortly after the network settled a massive defamation case brought by Dominion Voting Systems for nearly $800 million. Still, it’s unclear why Fox fired Carlson, the host of its most popular prime-time show. In the aftermath of Carlson’s firing, several competing explanations for his firing have emerged, including reports about embarrassing or racist messages from Carlson that were uncovered during the Dominion litigation.