April 27, 2023

"In video obtained by The Times... Mr. Carlson is shown off camera discussing his 'postmenopausal fans' and..."

"... whether they will approve of how he looks on the air. In another video, he is overheard describing a woman he finds 'yummy.' His texts could also factor in a pending defamation suit that the software company Smartmatic... as well as in a suit... alleging a hostile and discriminatory work environment. All this was in the mix when the network finally cut Mr. Carlson’s program this week, according to several people familiar with the internal discussions. And, the end of his run followed a pattern. His unceremonious departure made Mr. Carlson the latest in a list of prominent hosts and executives Fox has decided to show the door once the Murdochs concluded they were no longer worth the trouble: Glenn Beck (2011), Sarah Palin (2013), Roger Ailes, the network’s co-founder (2016) and Bill O’Reilly (2017). Despite the political clout he could exercise and the money his top-rated show brought in for the network, ultimately, Mr. Carlson learned that he served at the pleasure of the Murdochs."

With that headline, I was expecting something way more awful than "postmenopausal fan" and "yummy." What are the worst things you say in private conversations? Surely, we all say things that — if clipped out of context — are at least as bad as "postmenopausal fan" and "yummy"!

He served at the pleasure of the Murdochs makes the most sense. We really just shouldn't care about the pleasure of the Murdochs. But the Murdochs must care about somebody still wanting to watch Fox News. If they're not going to rely on the viewers who liked Tucker Carlson, who are they hoping to attract, and how do they think they can accomplish that? Or are they just focused on surviving those lawsuits?

86 comments:

AlbertAnonymous said...

What negative headline did the NYT run when they shit on that (now fired) AB marketing VP for her comments about the “fratty” Bud Light image/customers?

Oh they didn’t run a story shitting on her comments?

Sounds about right.

planetgeo said...

Well if anyone at all understands the value (and the hell-hath-no-fury) of postmenopausal fans it's Rupert Murdoch.

Dave Begley said...

The numbers are interesting. As I recall, something like $4b in Fox revenue is from cable and satellite fees. Only $1b in advertising revenue. As people drop cable, Fox started Fox Nation for streaming revenue. IOW, people are paying for Fox even if they aren't watching it via their cable bill.

RideSpaceMountain said...

Ah yes, the "Trump said pussy" line of attack. Mommy mommy! Tucker said she looked "yummy"!? MAKE HIM STOP!

Kai Akker said...

Whatever the particular, specific motivations that provided their "rational analysis" of the company's needs, the younger Murdochs are just another part of the larger trend in which our society is clearing the decks of the artifacts of the last cycle as we begin the awful process of undoing it in every way.

rehajm said...

If they're not going to rely on the viewers who liked Tucker Carlson, who are they hoping to attract, and how do they think they can accomplish that? Or are they just focused on surviving those lawsuits?

It's a purge of ANYONE not willing to help coordinate the upcoming electoral narratives. I mean, so many people worked so hard on the insurrection narrative- all that time, energy and...money, wasted just because one guy wouldn't play ball...can't let that happen again...

The strategy seems to be: If the people disgusted by the firing of Carlson don't have anywhere else to go...

Humperdink said...

Not too long ago, it was the accountants running the companies. That has given way to the lawyers. And we are better off for it. *cough*

Owen said...

NYT is having way too much fun here. Curb-stomping Fox and Tucker as inept, corrupt, misogynistic. And NYT does it in time-honored fashion by retailing sordid details like describing somebody as "yummy." All The News That's Fit To Print!

What I read in that is, NYT is part of a dying business, and is reduced to scraping up mean girls gossip to please their ten remaining subscribers.

And Fox? Dunno. They too are part of a dying business, I think, and they seem to have gone out of their way to piss off their viewers. I've reached my tipping point on cable subscription.

As for Tucker, he seems to have moved on and I look forward to seeing his cheerful countenance as he tackles the real issues out there.

Pass the popcorn.

hombre said...

Carlson reportedly released a video at 8 PM last night that was viewed 5 million plus times in an hour. That's more than his show pulled in. He's far from done.

The Dems and surrogate NYT have been smearing him for years to no avail. Preaching to their bubble people. Who cares?

tim maguire said...

As I noted on the 538 thread, Fox is not a ratings juggernaut; Fox is nothing. The stable of hosts on Fox are the ratings juggernaut. Get rid of the hosts and you get rid of the ratings and Fox is left with nothing.

I'd like to think the NYT is smart enough to recognize this; the darker thought is they are smart enough but don't care because they think their readers are stupid. (This is separate from the argument that their readers are stupid, which, by and large, they are.)

Ellie said...

How else is Tucker supposed to describe us if no one can define "woman"? Post-menopausal" is a biological definition of a middle-aged member of the human race who was born female. It's not pejorative. Tucker Carlson has often spoken about how he feels about women. Is he sexist? Yes, but he's in the "women belong on pedestals" variety of sexists.

Bob Boyd said...

I might start watching Fox News just so I can stop watching Fox News.

Aggie said...

When you fire the #1 cable news personality, you decide to take the hit to your reputation, in addition to taking a hit to your cash flow. I don't know much revenue Carlson was pulling in, since I noticed his advertisers were a little limited in scope - casualties of the Culture War. My wife watched his show, and I noticed hearing a lot of My Pillow ads, and drug company ads. Maybe, even with all those viewers, he still wasn't commanding #1 revenues in ad money because the big fish were scared off by all the shrill noise from de-platforming attempts.

But you don't fire your #1 hand unless there's a better reason to get rid of him. It won't be the lawsuits, because those are contrived. What about control of the narrative? What's that worth, with a Presidential election coming up?

Wince said...

NYT headline...
... making highly offensive remarks that went beyond the comments of his prime-time show".

Althouse said...
"With that headline, I was expecting something way more awful than "postmenopausal fan" and "yummy."

If I read the implicit bias in that headline correctly, it implies that Carlson's "comments [on] his prime time show" itself are generally offensive, but those "highly offensive" quotes somehow "went beyond" that.

Ice Nine said...

>With that headline, I was expecting something way more awful than "postmenopausal fan" and "yummy."<

Ya think? That would be because 1) his viewers tend to be middle-aged and older and 2) there is nothing whatsoever wrong with finding a woman attractive and using the vernacular term "yummy" to express that. Especially when those things are said in private conversation.

n.n said...

Is the insult in identifying women, women by age, or excluding men, and men seeking personal affirmation through insulting women?

cassandra lite said...

After the 2020 election and Fox's early call for Arizona, the network teetered as ratings dropped precipitously. It was Carlson who pretty much singlehandedly pulled the network up again. Who's going to do that now with every primetime hour down or way down?

(I'll be interested to see if, on his new platform--whatever it is--Carlson unchained lets his inner antisemite freak flag fly.)

baghdadbob said...

Now that I've gotten older, I find many post-menopausal women to be yummy.

That might be grounds for termination, but then, I'm retired.

Rick67 said...

What I'm seeing is a steady stream of post-departure "oh you're upset that Carlson is gone? well akshually he was an arrogant sexist elitist potty-mouth jerk so good riddance" revelations. We can debate how significant or even valid they are. And the good professor invites us to consider what we've said in private conversations that wouldn't reflect well on us.

The organization with which I worked for 18 years had a strange habit. Whenever someone left - usually because they were sick and tired - several people would trash talk that departing staff member. That they didn't believe in our mission, in the recent reorganization, weren't good at their job, and so on. These people were invariably the handful of jerks who made that organization increasingly toxic and dysfunctional. I'm convinced this was their attempt to say "it's not our fault, we didn't drive off that respected staff member, there's nothing wrong with this organization". After I finally left I wondered if when and how they would trash-talk me.

I suspect that's what is going on here. You upset? Well akshually good riddance.

The Drill SGT said...

I've heard that the wives of the younger Murdochs are liberal

William said...

Has anyone's mood ever been improved by watching a cable news show? I watch The Five on Fox and World News Tonight on ABC and that's it. Even these anodyne shows subvert my serenity. You can't reach a zen awareness if you watch too much news. Cable news shows are meant to promote anger rather than dispense information....I always admired Matt Lauer. He was always so kind and good natured. He faced down the problem of early baldness with dignity and grace, but he ended up thrown on the ash heap. That's the metric. An NBC host is allowed the occasional rape but a Fox news personality gets cancelled for describing a woman as "yummy".

Temujin said...

This is going turn out to be yet another quickly forgotten flop. He referred to someone as 'yummy' and this is the stuff of lawsuits?

Tucker will be back, larger and more influential than ever without the yoke of Fox News around his neck.

One of your commenters is dragging the 'antisemitic' hat onto Carlson's head. I wish people could get more serious about using that tag. It's not funny. It's misused and misplaced by so many, so often on the Left. Why it's as if they don't even know what actual antisemitism is.

RideSpaceMountain said...

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/ex-us-army-psyops-expert-fox-news-fired-carlson-maintain-semi-lobotomized-quasi-retarded

Tucker is being warned. He isn't the first. The NIC (National Intelligence Complex) will not tolerate the elevation of this message.

It's always said facetiously, that Tucker did not kill himself, but this is deadly serious. They can and will kill him. Car wrecks. Mysterious unsolved muggings. Disappearances. Conveniently-times heart attacks and strokes. Shocking boating accidents.

He is in grave danger if he continues.

tim in vermont said...

Sorry uniparty dotards, RFK Jr is already at 19% among Democrats after a small number of tweets, the other anti war candidate is at 9% despite a media blackout.

Breezy said...

There are a lot of glass houses on this block. People throwing stones at what we know so far should maybe take a breather.

Maynard said...

I might start watching Fox News just so I can stop watching Fox News.

Moi aussi.

Sebastian said...

"I was expecting something way more awful than "postmenopausal fan" and "yummy.""

Why? You thought they had a real reason? You thought TC is one of those really awful conservatives who says very mean things in private?

"If they're not going to rely on the viewers who liked Tucker Carlson, who are they hoping to attract, and how do they think they can accomplish that?"

Their calculations seem political as much as economic. But as large as TC's audience was, he faced a simmering advertiser boycott, and postmenopausal viewers are not very desirable, yummy or not. To answer your question with a non-answer: I don't think they know.

n.n said...

A woman is delightful, but a woman who remains in fidelity through love, life, and family is yummy.

wendybar said...

Who gives a shit?? I've heard what Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden have called half of the population, so this is NOTHING.

Sebastian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MountainMan said...

The video that Carlson put out on Twitter yesterday is up to 44M - oops, now 48.5M - views this morning. That more than 15X his nightly audience.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

I haven't watched the FNC in years. It was obvious that it was GOPe corporate propaganda. Yep, I stopped watching the FNC because it was to far to the left. I have watched some segments of Carlson's show on youtube, I'm not surprised he was fired. The lefties that think he is going to fade away are wish-casting.

Iman said...

It’d be refreshing to see or read of the NYT, WaPo or any other supposed unbiased rag go up the ass of the Left on occasion… no?

“The NYT: Today’s news will wrap tomorrow’s fish.”

Iman said...

Great point, cassandra lite. And a fact.

Levi Starks said...

I used the “short bus” reference yesterday….

Leland said...

Let me know when the NYT finds TERF to be offensive.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

(I'll be interested to see if, on his new platform--whatever it is--Carlson unchained lets his inner antisemite freak flag fly.)

Well the rumor is dutifully repeated in the article, that he said something "antisemite" in a private exchange, which is very much like the rumor insinuated by the headline: completely unsupported by the facts. And that is SOP for todays Leftist DNC Media and the people like cassandralite who lap it up. Why traffic in rumor and innuendo when you have real life elected Representatives like the Squad and Hakeem Jeffries and Sheldon Whitehouse representing real actual hatred for Jews and in Sheldon's case real honest white's only country club he still belongs to?

Looking so hard for the speck in someone else's eye while blinded by the lodgepole pine in your own. I look forward to you looking forward to many years of antisemitic ranting from Ilhan Omar et al, and I really look forward to your snarky condemnation of her.

Bitter Clinger said...

It would be great if Tucker joins Glenn Greenwald on Rumble. I disagree with Greenwald most topics, but not defense of free speech and the wastefulness or our foreign military adventures. More importantly, I find Greenwald to be an honest liberal, i.e., he honestly pursues the truth. I would subscribe to a platform that gave me access to both Greenwald and Tucker.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

"postmenopausal fan" and "yummy.""

OMG - off with his head!

The hack press - who sill use leftist narrative memes and headlines for their talking points - IE: the "Don't say gay" lie - will run with this...

Freeman Hunt said...

Pretty tame.

Patrick Henry was right! said...

Pretty sure he had a contract. That's not "serving at the pleasure,."

Amadeus 48 said...

Surviving those lawsuits? Come on, man!

My bet is that the Murdochs are moving FNC to the center--think Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, Lindsey Graham--just in case Trump is nominated or Biden wins. Remember, Rupert flipped to Tony Blair when it was clear that the John Major Tories were going to lose. So, no more Tucker Carlson populism or iconoclasm. Tucker is essentially uncontrollable, so he had to go. And in media, you never fire someone without throwing mud at them so you can stage the whole thing as an example of institutional hygiene.

Why now? There is an old Wall Street saying, if you are going to take a bath, take a big bath. This quarter is already ruined because of Dominion, so let's throw everything in here. Next quarter will look good by comparison.

Watch for more adherence to the GOP establishment line in the 8:00 (Eastern time) hour on FNC. And remember, Mitt Romney showed us how to lose with dignity.

Amadeus 48 said...

“'Like many on the [Tucker Carlson Tonight] staff, Abby never met Tucker Carlson in person because he taped the show from his personal studios in Maine and Florida, and he did not visit Fox’s NY HQ during her time there,' Kimberly A. Catala, one of the attorneys representing Grossberg, told Amber Athey of The Spectator."

Tucker has superpowers! He can sexually harass people who have never met him.

Dude1394 said...

The NYTimes...seriously?

rcocean said...

Do you people know that Abbie (hoffman) Grossberg had never met Tucker Carlson?

The Murdoch's have won praise from the Wapo and NYT's for firing Tucker. And also Chuck Schumer who called upon Murdoch to fire Tucker after he aired the J6 tapes. I wonder if the Murdochs called up Chuck Schumer, and said "Mission accomplished, Boss".

People always get the Murdoch's wrong. They aren't conservative, they're big business Republicans. Their beliefs are close to Lisa Murkey or Susan Collins. Finally, Fox News' rightwing tilt is a marketing strategy. By positioning Fox 2 millimeters to the Right of the all the other TV News networks, Fox NEws captures a large share of the Market.

Deevs said...

I don't care to spend a free article at the Times on this, so did Tucker say anything offensive about his postmenopausal fans, or just that he has postmenopausal fans? If the latter, what's offensive about being postmenopausal?

Michael said...

Small potatoes indeed. The Times is just venting its frustration that Carlson is more successful by his lonesome than all of them are put together. (Full disclosure: I subscribe to get the daily crossword.)

Matt said...

Abby Grossberg claims in her lawsuit that; “On one occasion [in 2022], Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon was scheduled to appear as a guest on TCT to discuss her campaign.Before her arrival, a crass and sexist discussion in the Tucker Carlson newsroom ensued regarding whether Ms. Dixon or her opponent, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, was ‘hotter and more f---able,’” That’s not Tucker directly but it created a sexist and apparently hostile work environment.
As we have seen with FOX News over the years it’s not their new reporting that gets them in trouble. It’s HR concerns.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

All while the Biden family should be indicted.

Earnest Prole said...

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody

Owen said...

Amadeus 48 @ 10:11: Your block-quote: "'Like many on the [Tucker Carlson Tonight] staff, Abby never met Tucker Carlson in person because he taped the show from his personal studios in Maine and Florida, and he did not visit Fox’s NY HQ during her time there,' Kimberly A. Catala, one of the attorneys representing Grossberg, told Amber Athey of The Spectator.'" ...Just astounds me.

How can Catala, lawyer for plaintiff Grossberg in this harassment suit, make such an admission? What is left of their case, when they've conceded there was never any actual meeting of plaintiff with defendant? As you say, Tucker must have superpowers. Now I'm interested: how does he DO that? Can we learn how???

Yancey Ward said...

Carlson was fired, ultimately, because people like Chuck Schumer wanted him fired. Carlson will make lots and lots of money after this, but he won't be allowed back onto broadcast or cable television. The powers that be didn't get him canned only to allow him to move to another channel with an even bigger audience- they play for keeps. Carlson will have to be content with a Twatter account and, maybe, a Rumble one.

DanTheMan said...

Ms. Grossberg has noted that it is open season on conservatives.

Any accusation will be accepted as The Truth the moment it is made.
Next, she gets in front of a downtown, deeply D jury, and gets rich.

She's just taking advantage of an opportunity.

Original Mike said...

"With that headline, I was expecting something way more awful than "postmenopausal fan" and "yummy.""

All that matters is the headline. The NYT reader (present company excepted) will read that and take it as given; no thought or analysis will go into what's in the article.

walter said...

"once the Murdochs concluded they were no longer worth the trouble"
This is narrative crafting.

Michael K said...

That would be because 1) his viewers tend to be middle-aged and older

I saw a profile of his viewers. He had the largest share of age 15 to 59 viewers on FNC.

Even Democrats in the highly desired age range preferred Tucker.

The data showed Carlson, who co-founded the Daily Caller, beat out both CNN and MSNBC programs for viewership among Democrats in the key demographic range, The Wrap reported Tuesday. The viewership rankings came from October, the most recent month with published data, according to the outlet.

Amadeus 48 said...

rcocean at 10:12. BINGO!

You are brilliant. I agree with you.

Megyn Kelly is on fire on this stuff.

Greg the Class Traitor said...

He served at the pleasure of the Murdochs makes the most sense.
Yep. And the fact that they're not pleased to keep him employed is a great reason to stop watching Fox

We really just shouldn't care about the pleasure of the Murdochs
We don't

But the Murdochs must care about somebody still wanting to watch Fox News
They no longer do. They care more about being part of the Uniparty

If they're not going to rely on the viewers who liked Tucker Carlson, who are they hoping to attract, and how do they think they can accomplish that? Or are they just focused on surviving those lawsuits?
Nope, they're interred in being part of the Uniparty, the people who hate DeSantis, hate Trump, and hate all those of us who want to vote for either of them

They have enough money that they'd rather see Fox News create into non-existence, than provide a platform for TC to point out the lies of the Uniparty, like Jan 6

That is their choice to make. Just like it's our choice to never watch them or link them

Drago said...

rcocean: "Do you people know that Abbie (hoffman) Grossberg had never met Tucker Carlson?"

Yes, of course the dems/left/LLR-democraticals know that.

It's one of the things they like BEST about the lawsuit since it sends the clear message they believe they an accuse any political opponent of anything with absolutely nothing and still "win" in whatever Soviet courtroom they can drag the proceeding into before their democratical "judges" and 100% dem "juries" of "peers".

Leland said...

Reading planetgeo's comment, I wonder if the full context of "post menopausal fans" was in reference to various advertisements placed on Fox News targeting that exact demographic.

Original Mike said...

Blogger Matt said..."That’s not Tucker directly but it created a sexist and apparently hostile work environment."

But? Bullshit. Not only is not Tucker "directly", it's not Tucker period. Now maybe they have something else, I don't know, but this particular line of attack is crap. How would you like to be held accountable for things you didn't do?

walter said...

I blame Tucker's gay senior producer for creating such an abusive work environment.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/tucker-carlson-gay-producer_n_63868220e4b09a86b1b86033

Greg the Class Traitor said...

Matt said...
Abby Grossberg claims in her lawsuit that; “On one occasion [in 2022], Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon was scheduled to appear as a guest on TCT to discuss her campaign.Before her arrival, a crass and sexist discussion in the Tucker Carlson newsroom ensued regarding whether Ms. Dixon or her opponent, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, was ‘hotter and more f---able,’” That’s not Tucker directly but it created a sexist and apparently hostile work environment.

1: Tucker Carlson wasn't in the NY Office. Which means that to whatever extent their was a "hostile environment", the blame falls on the Fox management who WERE there
2: "a crass and sexist discussion in the Tucker Carlson newsroom ensued"? For how long? Who participated? Which managers were there?

Oh, and is anyone trying to claim leftists don't do this all the time? As well as claiming that Republican politicians are gay?

So, this pathetic loser complained that they had a bad picture posted of Nancy Pelosi, and that they talk like everyone else in the world talks.

I remain convinced that whoever hired Abby is the person most in need of being fired

Greg the Class Traitor said...

Ace of Spades did an excellent post on this:
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/404187.php

He points out, among other things, that the current leftist trope is that attacking someone for being a "Soros Prosecutor" is "anti-semetic", so ANY claims of "anti-semetic" comments must be considered BS until the actual comment is provided so we can judge for ourselves.

He also points out that the reason why Fox (but NOT TC) went for "the Kraken" was as an attempt to "make up" with viewers who they'd just screwed over with their dishonest 2020 "election results" calling. (Remember saying "the Democrats will hold the House by at least 15 seats", before polls closed in CA? We do)

Those lawsuits have NOTHING to do with Carlson. Pretending otherwise is either dishonest, or a total display of ignorance

KellyM said...

There have been a lot of interesting revelations around Tucker's departure from Fox.

1) As Drago noted above, Abby Grossberg and Tucker never met face to face; she was in NY and he was in one of his home studios either in Maine or Florida; claiming a "hostile work environment" is a bit rich.

https://www.revolver.news/2023/04/stunning-update-involving-disgruntled-former-tucker-producer-abby-grossberg-she-now-has-egg-on-her-face/

2) Speculation that this was a revenge move on the part of Rupert Murdoch, who recently called off his latest foray into the marriage realm. The story is that Murdoch's ex-fiancée was both a big Tucker fan, and a Christian. Murdoch greatly detested both. When Carlson framed the current moral and cultural battle not as a left/right divide but as a 'spiritual war against principalities and powers' he was very angry, called off the nuptials and in a bitter ugly move kicked Carlson to the curb to get back at the ex-fiancée.

3) Carlson is intelligent enough to know that anyone's DMs in a texting app are not private. He's been in the political world for long enough that not using an encrypted texting app like Signal or similar is dumb. I wonder if that was the point - give them the ammunition to send him packing.

4) There is a ton of $$ left on Carlson's contract; indeed, negotiations were in the works to extend his contract. His firing leaves a lot on the table, just at the height of his reach and popularity. As I've read elsewhere, many of these contracts have fine print which essentially forbid entertaining any competing enterprises for the sake of the rest of the contract and forces Carlson to sit idle until the contract expires. This in effect creates a cool-down period on his popularity, so that when/if he decided to kick-start a new endeavor, he would find it difficult as his target audience would have moved on. I don't know how much this is actually true, based on his outreach last night via his Twitter account. Nevertheless, it's interesting.

wendybar said...

People always get the Murdoch's wrong. They aren't conservative, they're big business Republicans. Their beliefs are close to Lisa Murkey or Susan Collins. Finally, Fox News' rightwing tilt is a marketing strategy. By positioning Fox 2 millimeters to the Right of the all the other TV News networks, Fox NEws captures a large share of the Market.

4/27/23, 10:12 AM

THIS^^^^

Drago said...

Matt: "Abby Grossberg claims in her lawsuit that; “On one occasion [in 2022], Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon was scheduled to appear as a guest on TCT to discuss her campaign.Before her arrival, a crass and sexist discussion in the Tucker Carlson newsroom ensued regarding whether Ms. Dixon or her opponent, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, was ‘hotter and more f---able,’”

Who won?

Paul A. Mapes said...

Well, at least we now know what the NY Times thinks constitutes a "highly offensive remark."

Paul A. Mapes said...

Well, at least we now know what the NY Times thinks constitutes a "highly offensive remark."

Paul A. Mapes said...

Well, at least we now know what the NY Times thinks constitutes a "highly offensive remark."

John henry said...

It was supposed to be the end of Glenn Beck when he left Fox.

He has 2-300m subscribers at $100 each annually. Not too shabby. He also can't be canceled or deplatformed.

Scott Adams is in a similar pickle. A couple hundred thousand followers at $100 eacb is $20mm annually.

Again non-cancelable and totally free to say what he wants.

Or Joe roganv$200 million Spotify deall


If I was tucker I'd have spent the past couple sears telling Fnv "please, brer Fox, don't throw me in the briar patch"

Drago said...

KellyM: "4) There is a ton of $$ left on Carlson's contract; indeed, negotiations were in the works to extend his contract. His firing leaves a lot on the table, just at the height of his reach and popularity. As I've read elsewhere, many of these contracts have fine print which essentially forbid entertaining any competing enterprises for the sake of the rest of the contract and forces Carlson to sit idle until the contract expires. This in effect creates a cool-down period on his popularity, so that when/if he decided to kick-start a new endeavor, he would find it difficult as his target audience would have moved on."

They are trying to keep Tucker tied up through the 2024 election cycle.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

The high water mark for Fox News was the lineup of Bill O’Reilly at 8pm and Megyn Kelly at 9pm. They need to bring in new people for those two slots. What cable news could really use is something like the old Hannity and Colmes show, but that’s unlikely in today’s climate.

Drago said...

Greg the Class Traitor: "So, this pathetic loser complained that they had a bad picture posted of Nancy Pelosi, and that they talk like everyone else in the world talks."

I'm not sure a "good" picture of Pelosi exists....

Amadeus 48 said...

For those who don't listen to Megyn Kelly's podcast, based on her experience at Fox and her contacts at FNC, she has fingered the person who is spoon-feeding this stuff to WSJ and NYT as Irena Briganti, who in Megyn's words is notoriously "vicious", and whose job includes spreading dirt about talent that has parted ways, as they say, with FNC. She was the person that Tucker called the c-word in an internal email (NOT Suzanne Scott, FNC's CEO). The problem was that Briganti was not doing much to clear Tucker from blame for the Dominion fiasco, and Tucker was angry about it. He had called out Sydney Powell's lack of evidence to support her Dominion allegations, and he was catching heat for that from the audience. He thought his contribution to honest reporting should be high-lighted.

Megyn's sources confirm that Rupert made the decision, not Lachlan and Suzanne Scott.

With the benefit of hindsight, one might suppose that Tucker was being set up to have the Dominion fiasco as part of his legacy. See all the speculation about that as a cause of his termination--it worked! Another thing that worked was de-platforming combined with corporate cowardice by advertisers. Tucker's audience was multiple times the size of Rachel Maddow's, but she had Mercedes Benz ads and he had My Pillow. Tucker also had more young Democrats watching him rather than Maddow.

Tucker's interests and experience have led him to an a belief set that is a sort of Frank Capra-esque populism, which was part of the American creed in the 20th Century. He is concerned about the dissolution of the southern border, the offshoring of productive jobs, endless foreign wars, the abandonment of smaller and medium-sized American cities, the displacement of native born Americans through uncontrolled immigration, and the question of accountability for top-down pronouncements by regulatory agencies. The smearing of him as a racist xenophobe and right-wing hater was always ridiculous. They'll do the same thing to the next person that occupies that slot. And DeSantis will be worse than Trump and both of them are worse than Hitler.

I think the Murdochs are moving FNC to the center and away from populism. As someone noted above, the calculation is that FNC just has to be a little right of center to capture half of the over-the-air news market.



Yancey Ward said...

I overheard a guy, who was wearing a Tucker Carlson t-shirt in a Cracker Barrel in Cookeville, TN, say he would would only fuck Gretchen Whitmer if she put a bag over her head and paid him a $10,000. That’s not Tucker directly but it created a sexist and apparently hostile breakfast eating environment. Maybe Grossberg can sue that guy, too, Matt.

Kai Akker said...

--- RFK Jr is already at 19%

Once they hear him talk, it will be back to 1%. Zero if they look at him.

boatbuilder said...

Let he who has never described a woman as "yummy" cast the first stone.

Mark said...

"They are trying to keep Tucker tied up through the 2024 election cycle."

What you mean to say is that during his prior contact, Tucker was so stupid as to sign an agreement that would do this upon exit. Fox isn't doing anything that Tucker didn't personally agree to.

What a dolt.

Yancey Ward said...

Yeah, Lefty Mark, what a dolt Tucker Carlson is- a dolt that can be paid 20 million dollars a year for taking his wife golfing every afternoon, by the Murdochs for the next 2-3 years, if he wants.

Do you ever realize how stupid you sound, Mark?

walter said...

Dear "Mark",
Have you found sudden reverence for the law?
Team Joementia finds your notion quaint.
Just push beyond the law and dare any fool to challenge.

walter said...

Kai Akker said...
--- RFK Jr is already at 19%
Once they hear him talk, it will be back to 1%. Zero if they look at him.
4/27/23, 7:21 PM
Are you a jabber walkie?

Amadeus 48 said...

Mark--You and I have equal knowledge of Tucker's contract, namely, zero. There is a dolt here, and it isn't Tucker Carlson or me.

Kai Akker said...

RFK Jr.'s voice and appearance don't inspire confidence, Walter.

Greg the Class Traitor said...

Drago said...
Greg the Class Traitor: "So, this pathetic loser complained that they had a bad picture posted of Nancy Pelosi, and that they talk like everyone else in the world talks."

I'm not sure a "good" picture of Pelosi exists....


A picture of her fully dressed is going to be better than a picture of her in a bathing suit..

Not throwing stones about looks here, a picture of ME fully dressed will be better than a picture of me in a bathing suit.

But I'm not stupid enough to have pictures of me in a bathing suit available for the public

walter said...

Blogger boatbuilder said...
Let he who has never described a woman as "yummy" cast the first stone.
--
D-Lemon.