Fox News, Dominion deny Tucker Carlson ouster a condition of settlement

Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems are pushing back on a recent report suggesting Tucker Carlson’s ouster from the network was part of an agreement between the parties to settle a historic defamation suit out of court.

The Variety report, published Tuesday, quoted an anonymous source who claimed Dominion wanted to deal a major blow to the network’s viewership as part of the deal and demanded Carlson be ousted.

“That condition was intended to hurt Fox, and Tucker is just collateral damage,” the source told the outlet. “Dominion wanted to punish Fox, and it’s working.”

Fox and Dominion denied the source’s claim when contacted by The Hill.

“As the Fox principals who negotiated the settlement well know, Dominion made no demands about Tucker Carlson’s employment orally or in writing,” the voting systems company said. “Any claims otherwise are categorically false and a thinly veiled effort to further damage Dominion.”

“Fox should take every effort to stop these lies immediately,” they added.

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More Fox News coverage from The Hill:

• Abbott knocks Dominion over Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox News
• Fox Corp. reports $50 million net loss following Dominion settlement
• Fox demands Dominion conduct internal probe after redacted Carlson texts leaked
• Tucker Carlson’s Twitter plans amplify tensions with Fox News
• Advertisers return to Fox News prime time after Tucker Carlson departure 

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Fox agreed to pay $787.5 million to Dominion to settle its defamation case against the network minutes before opening arguments in a jury trial were set to get underway. Dominion initially sued Fox in 2021 for airing false claims about its software being promoted by former President Trump and his allies after the 2020 election.

As part of Dominion’s legal process of discovery, a bevy of emails and text messages from top executives and hosts at Fox News, including Carlson, were made public. The texts showed leaders and talent at the network throwing cold water on Trump’s claims of voter fraud but worrying how fact-checking those claims might upset their audience.

Carlson, in some text messages, disparaged company leadership, reportedly using crude and sexist language to deride female executives at the company.

Days after Fox settled its case with Dominion, the network ousted Carlson, and it has said nothing publicly about what led to his being taken off the air.

Carlson, who remains under contract with Fox, has teased plans to launch a new version of his wildly popular prime-time show on Twitter, but he has so far been scant on details.

A lawyer for Carlson recently wrote to Fox leadership claiming the network breached his contract and accusing the company of leaking damaging information about the host to media outlets.