Two bits of huge news from the TV talking heads desk on Monday – Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News, and Don Lemon is out at CNN.
Carlson’s is no doubt the bigger news, because of his ratings draw – he routinely averaged more than 3 million viewers per night in the 8 p.m. ET weeknight time slot on Fox News – and because of how out there his show had become over the years.
A former milquetoast moderate, Carlson recast himself as a rabid right-wing lunatic after a year of lackluster ratings following the forced departure of his 8 p.m weeknight predecessor, Bill O’Reilly.
His downfall seems to be part of the fallout from the Dominion defamation lawsuit, which Fox News settled last week for an astounding $787.5 million. Private communications from Carlson that became public because of the suit revealed that Carlson’s new persona was all an act, showing that Carlson didn’t personally like Trump and wanted to distance himself from the former president’s continued election denialism, even as he trumpeted the Trump team’s claims on his nightly show.
Lemon is a former late-night news host who was shifted to early mornings as CNN looked for a reboot to their flagging daytime lineup, but the new “CNN This Morning,” pairing Lemon with co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins, is, like its many predecessors, just not working.
Lemon, a 17-year CNN veteran, came under fire for an odd statement that he made on a February show about Republican presidential longshot Nikki Haley. Haley had been critical of Joe Biden for not being in his prime due to his age, and Lemon said that Haley, 51, is “not in her prime,” then doubled down, saying “a woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s, 30s and maybe her 40s.”
Lemon, who co-hosted his show this morning, issued a statement later Monday morning confirming that he’d been fired, and blasted the network for the way that he was let go, claiming that he was informed not by CNN, but by his agent – a claim that CNN has since refuted.
There’s nothing official on how exactly Carlson was let go, though it’s significant to note that he signed off his show on Friday night telling viewers that he’d be back on Monday, so, whatever happened, happened between then and Monday morning.
His departure will leave at least a temporary hole in the Fox News prime-time lineup, but it won’t necessarily impact the channel’s bottom line.
Despite his big viewer numbers, Carlson’s show wasn’t exactly maximizing the ad dollars, with big-name brands largely staying away from advertising on it because of the show’s far-right bent.
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Chris Graham
