More details have emerged about the possible cause of Tucker Carlson’s separation from Fox News including reported phone calls from father-son duo Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the previous month.
Adding to the smear of the former primetime host as being a puppet of Russian President Vladimir Putin over his coverage of the war in Ukraine, a report Monday detailed a “previously reported call” between Zelenskyy and the elder Murdoch in his capacity as News Corp executive chairman.
As presented by Semafor, “Rupert Murdoch held a previously unreported call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this spring in which the two discussed the war and the anniversary of the deaths of Fox News journalists last March.”
The outlet also reminded that Fox Corporation CEO, Lachlan, had also conversed with the Ukrainian leader on March 15, “which Zelenskyy noted in a little-noticed aside during a national broadcast last month.”
Previously, it had been reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had commented on Carlson’s departure and noted, “Perhaps it would be useful to consider how things are with freedom of speech in the United States…clearly, the wealth of views in the American information space has suffered as a result.”
Coupled with job offers from Kremlin-backed television stations, corporate media had leaped at the opportunity to slam Carlson once more as a pro-Putin propagandist.
The Semafor report did note, “The conversations came weeks before the Murdochs fired their biggest star and most outspoken critic of American support for Ukraine, Tucker Carlson,” but despite objections from Ukrainian officials to Carlson’s coverage, “Zelenskyy did not raise it on the calls with the Murdochs.”
Word about the former primetime host’s viewpoints possibly being the cause for his silencing on Fox News spread as the likes of former White House adviser Steve Bannon presented the report without comment, “Murdoch’s Fired Tucker after they talked to Zelensky…”
Meanwhile, the smear of Carlson’s reputation continued via a video obtained by the progressive Media Matters as the outlet posted a purported “behind-the-scenes” leak of Carlson bashing Fox News’ streaming service Fox Nation.
“I don’t want to be a slave to Fox Nation, which I don’t think that people watch anyway. We’re gonna — because, you know, I’m like a representative of the American media now, speaking to an exile in Romania and welcoming him back into the brotherhood of journalists,” Carlson appears to say in the video posted by Matthew Gertz.
FOXLEAKS: Tucker Carlson slammed Fox Nation in behind-the-scenes video https://t.co/XhQlKQVHJ1 pic.twitter.com/mKqJBuWzCw
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) May 1, 2023
“But nobody’s going to watch it on Fox Nation. Nobody watches Fox Nation because the site sucks,” the screed continued. “So I’d really like to just put the — dump the whole thing on YouTube. But anyway, that’s just my view. Okay. I’m just frustrated with it…And they’re like making, like, Lifetime movies…And it drives me crazy because it’s like we’re doing all this extra work and no one can find it. It’s unbelievable, actually.”
Even those who didn’t question the veracity of the video were unmoved by the statements attributed to Carlson as they found themselves in agreement with knocking Fox Nation following a wave of subscription cancelations over dropping the host.
And? I’m totally confused. Is this supposed to put him in a bad light?
— HACKED BY @9MINTY (@finalphase_) May 1, 2023
The site is (was for me since I canceled after Tucker was let go) super clunky. The download feature was the worst. On good WiFi it would take 20 minutes to download a show. – if possible at all. No audio download option or speed change – I normally do podcasts at 1.5X
— Ben Matlock’s Seersucker Suit (@kindlyinquisitr) May 2, 2023
Yes, no one ever criticizes their own company. Never.
And, he’s right. It is a cluster-F on FN.— Bill Caskey (@billcaskey) May 1, 2023
As for Carlson’s next move, though his broader plans remain unknown, Al.com confirmed that he would be fulfilling his obligation to speak at an annual fundraiser Thursday.
“We actually booked him back last fall,” said Tim Hodge, executive director of the nonprofit organization Rainbow Omega. Located in Eastaboga, Alabama, the organization provides residential care and vocational opportunities to adults with developmental disabilities.
“He’s honored what he said he would do. We’re looking forward to him being here and being part of our fundraiser,” Hodge continued and explained Carlson had agreed to participate believing it to be a worthwhile cause.
“Anytime you have a featured speaker from the world of politics, with our country’s political divide, you can bet there’s a lot of interest. It was kind of an unusual situation. There has been renewed interest,” he went on, detailing that over 500 tickets had sold since Carlson had been separated from Fox News. “If he announces what he plans to do next, we would have loved to have retroactively known that and promoted that. It’s an interesting sequence of events that led to where we are.”
Neither Fox News nor Tucker Carlson have confirmed the cause for pulling him off the air.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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