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.”
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.