Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is preparing to battle the network to get out of his contract after he was pulled off the air last month, according to Axios.
Since being ousted from the network in April, Carlson has allegedly begun to ready plans for his own “media empire.” However, he can’t act on them until his contract with Fox concludes in January of 2025.
Two days after being let go, Carlson in a Twitter video teased the idea of creating a Fox rival, saying, “See you soon.”
Axios added that Carlson has reportedly been contacted by other right-wing outlets, such as Rumble and Newsmax, who have offered to pay him more than Fox.
Fox, whose ratings in Carlson’s slot have fallen since cutting loose the inflammatory anchor, wants to keep Carlson under wraps by paying him $20 million a year to not work, according to the report.
“The idea that anyone is going to silence Tucker and prevent him from speaking to his audience is beyond preposterous,” Bryan Freedman, Carlson’s attorney, told Axios.
People close to Carlson have said that he is thinking about creating a direct-to-consumer media outlet that would see viewers pay him directly, the blueprint for which was created by disgraced former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.
A Carlson source said that the former Fox host “knows where a lot of bodies are buried, and is ready to start drawing a map.”
Another indicated that MAGA allies are prepared to strike back at Fox for keeping Carlson in the shadows.
“They’re coming to him and saying: ‘Do you want me to hit Fox?’ He’s been saying: ‘No. I want to get this done quiet and clean,'” a friend of Carlson’s told Axios.
“Now, we’re going from peacetime to Defcon 1,” the friend added. “His team is preparing for war. He wants his freedom.”
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
Last week, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy