Fox News is taking aim at Tucker Carlson’s new show on Twitter, according to a new report.
The network on Wednesday sent Carlson’s lawyers a letter saying that the Tuesday debut of Carlson’s show violated his contract, according to Axios, which said it had seen the letter.
Carlson has taken the legal position that Fox breached its agreement with him, and that he was free to do as he wishes.
Fox News took Carlson’s show off the air in April. Since then, until the Fox News letter, the terms of Carlson’s status with Fox have been unclear, with Carlson claiming the contract was violated when Fox executives broke promises they made to him.
BREAKING: Fox News lawyers have reached out to Tucker Carlson notifying him that he breached his contract by launching his show on Twitter.
So Fox is allowed to fire Tucker but he is not allowed to speak freely online?
In response to the move by Fox, Tucker’s lawyers responded… pic.twitter.com/UFGpjNFmqb
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) June 7, 2023
A representative of Carlson jabbed at the network over the letter.
According to Deadline, on paper, Carlson still has a contract with Fox News through January 2025.
Carlson has hired a lawyer to address the legal niceties needed for him to get out from under Fox News and the contract.
Is Tucker Carlson your favorite journalist?
Yes: 92% (693 Votes)
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“Fox defends its very existence on freedom of speech grounds. Now they want to take Tucker Carlson’s right to speak freely away from him because he took to social media to share his thoughts on current events,” said Carlson’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, according to Axios.
Would be great to have shows from all parts of the political spectrum on this platform! https://t.co/hrzEH31Pk0
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) June 6, 2023
On Tuesday, after Carlson aired his show on Twitter, Fox News general counsel Bernard Gugar sent the letter saying Carlson “is in breach” of his contract.
“In connection with such breach and pursuant to the Agreement, Fox expressly reserves all rights and remedies which are available to it at law or equity,” the Fox News letter said.
The letter quoted Carlson’s contract as saying, “Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, Mr. Carlson’s ‘services shall be completely exclusive to Fox.’”
The contract said Carlson is “prohibited from rendering services of any type whatsoever, whether ‘over the internet via streaming or similar distribution, or other digital distribution whether now known or hereafter devised.’”
BREAKING: Fox News plans to sue Tucker Carlson after his 1st video on Twitter went viral
They claim it’s a breach of contract
Maybe we boycott Fox News until they stop trying to silence one of the biggest voices before the 2024 election?
FREE SPEECHhttps://t.co/h6npCCHdvY
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) June 7, 2023
Carlson’s Tuesday night debut was a Twitter success story. By 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the video had racked up more than 71 million views, according to Twitter’s metrics. In his opening show, Carlson spent much of his opening segment focused on attacking America’s involvement in the war in Ukraine.
