Former primetime tv anchor Tucker Carlson put out a 10-minute monologue on Twitter this week that was touted as the premiere of his new program, Fox News accused Carlson of breaching his contract.
The network is still legally Carlson’s employer. Despite his contract being valid until 2025, he was abruptly removed from the air in April. For terminating his program, Carlson has charged Fox News with fraud and breach of contract.
Axios received a copy of the letter that Fox News chief counsel Bernard Gugar allegedly addressed to Carlson’s legal team immediately after the debut of the first episode of “Tucker on Twitter.”
Gugar’s letter states, “This evening we were informed of Mr. Tucker Carlson’s debut on Twitter in a video which lasted over 10 minutes. According to the provisions of the Agreement, Fox will have exclusive access to Mr. Carlson’s services.”
According to the letter, Carlson’s contract states that he is “prohibited from offering services of any kind whatsoever, whether ‘on the internet through Livestream or similar circulation, or other digital distribution whether or not currently available or later devised.'”
According to a person acquainted with the legal team’s reasoning, “Tucker on Twitter” does not violate the terms of the Fox News contract since Twitter is not a direct rival of the network.
“Fox defends its own survival on the basis of freedom of expression. They now want to deny Tucker Carlson his freedom of speech because he used social media to express his opinions on the news,” according to a statement from Carlson’s attorney Bryan Freedman.
The letter from Fox News is the most recent development in a bitter legal dispute between the network and one of its most well-known characters. In a statement sent via his lawyers after being fired, Carlson said that the network had misled the host “deliberately and with reckless disregard towards the truth.” According to the petition, Carlson was given “material representations” by Fox News officials that were subsequently willfully breached.
Carlson’s initial episode of his new Twitter program had received almost 90 million impressions. Although Carlson has a significant following on social media, an impression does not always indicate that someone watched the 10-minute speech.
Carlson stressed the value of free speech and voices outside of traditional media throughout his monologue.
“The worst crime in journalism,” according to Carlson, “is curiosity. Twitter, which we believe will serve as the short-wave radio beneath the covers, has arrived as of today. There aren’t any gatekeepers, so we’re told. We’ll depart if it turns out to be untrue. We are appreciative to be here, nevertheless, in the meantime.”
