Tucker Carlson breached his employment contract by launching a new talk show on Twitter, Fox News has alleged. The network insists that it has exclusive rights to Carlson\u2019s services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
General counsel for the network, Bernard Gugar, sent a letter on Tuesday evening to Carlson\u2019s lawyers, warning that the network would take action to protect its contractual rights, Axios reported on Wednesday. \u201cThis evening, we were made aware of Mr. Tucker Carlson\u2019s appearance on Twitter in a video that lasted over 10 minutes,\u201d the outlet quoted Gugar as saying. \u201cPursuant to the terms of the agreement, Mr. Carlson\u2019s services shall be completely exclusive to Fox.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carlson, who boasted the highest ratings in US cable news history, was ousted by Fox in April, after the network agreed to pay a $787 million defamation settlement to Dominion Voting Systems for allegedly making false statements about the company. Axios reported that Fox, which continues to pay Carlson his contractually agreed salary, aims to keep him silenced through 2025, which would mean the host being sidelined for the 2024 presidential election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carlson\u2019s Twitter talk show debuted on Tuesday, attracting more than 90 million views in its first 24 hours. The ratings highwater mark for his primetime show at Fox was 5.3 million viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gugar\u2019s letter claimed that under Carlson\u2019s contract, the host was \u201cprohibited from rendering services of any type whatsoever, whether over the internet via streaming or similar distribution, or other digital distribution whether now known or hereafter devised.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bryan Freedman, a lawyer representing Carlson, blasted Fox\u2019s effort to block Carlson from expressing his views. \u201cFox defends its very existence on freedom of speech grounds,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cNow they want to take Tucker Carlson\u2019s right to speak freely away from him because he took to social media to share his thoughts on current events.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Carlson has accused Fox of fraud and claimed that network executives reneged on their promises, including a pledge not to settle with Dominion \u201cin a way which would indicate wrongdoing.\u201d Axios said a Fox board member told the host that he was taken off the air as part of the legal settlement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n