Featured Image Credit: Associated Press / Alamy / Fox News
Topics: US News, Tucker Carlson
Anish Vij
Tucker Carlson may have been paid millions to leave Fox News.
Fox made the shock announcement on Monday that Carlson would be leaving the network with immediate effect.
The primetime TV host appeared to be unaware he was leaving during his last show on Friday (21 April).
Fox said they had 'agreed to part ways' without offering much explanation.
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In a statement posted on Monday (24 April), the network said: "Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways.
"We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.
"Mr. Carlson’s last program was Friday April 21st. Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 PM/ET starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named."
It appears that some members of the network were pleased with the news, as one Fox reporter told Rolling Stone: “Pure joy. No one is untouchable.
"It’s a great day for America, and for the real journalists who work hard every day to deliver the news at Fox.”
Another producer added: “It was a good move to part ways with Tucker.
“He knowingly spread lies throughout his time at Fox, but I fear management will replace him with someone who is just like him … so there probably won’t be any real change.”
“Good riddance,” a network correspondent also told the publication.
“For a while there it seemed like he was running the network. This clearly is a message that he’s not. In the interim, it’s a morale boost, that’s for sure.”
But after spending nearly a decade at the network, it's being reported that the 53-year-old will paid out for the rest of his contract, which was renewed in 2021.
According to a person familiar with contract negotiations at Fox and other networks, Carlson was making between $15 million and $20 million a year hosting Tucker Carlson Tonight, as reported by Forbes and the Wall Street Journal.
“He has more leverage than anyone else,” they said. “He could pick up and go anywhere … before this.”
While it's unclear how long he had left on his contract, usually high profile media hosts negotiate between one and six years.
Carlson was reportedly renegotiating his contract through till 2029, according to Vanity Fair.
“Tucker Carlson had become even bigger than Fox News,” said Brian Stelter, who is writing an upcoming second book about Fox called Network Of Lies.
“His sudden ouster will have profound consequences for Fox News, for TV news and the Republican Party.”
UNILAD has contacted Fox News and Tucker Carlson's representatives for comment.