Fox News has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Tucker Carlson alleging that he breached his contract with the network by launching a competing series on Twitter. Carlson, once the most-watched host on cable news, was ousted from FOX last April without any official explanation from the network. After a brief hiatus from anchoring, Carlson released the first two episodes of his new series last week, totaling nearly 170 million views on the social media platform.
The cease-and-desist letter was first reported on by Axios and later confirmed by Harmeet Dhillon, one of Carlson’s lawyers.
“Fox News continues to ignore the interests of its viewers, not to mention its shareholder obligations,” Dhillon said in a statement Monday.
“Doubling down on the most catastrophic programming decision in the history of the cable news industry, Fox is now demanding that Tucker Carlson be silent until after the 2024 election.”
“My friend and client [Tucker Carlson] will not be silenced by — by the far left or by FOX News,” she added in a tweet.
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My friend and client @TuckerCarlson will not be silenced — by the far left or by Fox News. Scoop: Fox sends Tucker Carlson cease-and-desist letter https://t.co/1vUCMoQXOa
— Harmeet K. Dhillon (@pnjaban) June 12, 2023
While an April 24 statement from FOX News Media stated that Carlson and the network had “agreed to part ways,” the host reportedly remains under contract through Dec. 31, 2024, which includes a noncompete agreement. Since his ousting, however, Carlson’s legal team has claimed that the contract is void, and has defended the host’s Twitter endeavors as protected under his First Amendment rights, according to an Axios report.
“For all the members of Congress, culture warriors, “influencers,” GOP officials — do you really want to air your views on a network that spits on its viewers, leaks oppo on its own talent, and even threatens former talent for speaking, for free, on Twitter?! You have free will!” ~ Harmeet Dhillon [@pnjaban]
On Wednesday, Fox News told Carlson’s lawyers that he was “in breach” of the contract, following the release of his first episode on Twitter.
A statement from Bryan Freedman, one of Carlson’s lawyers, said that “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.”
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Ep. 1 pic.twitter.com/O7CdPjF830
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 6, 2023
Ep. 2 Cling to your taboos! pic.twitter.com/45AeVdtwOu
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 8, 2023
Carlson launched his new Twitter show on Tuesday, receiving around 115 million views on the first episode within a week of being posted. The format currently includes a roughly 10-12 minute monologue, similar in style to his FOX News program. The show will reportedly expand to include guest interviews in the future.
The first episode was promoted by Twitter CEO Elon Musk, who expressed a desire to have “shows from all parts of the political spectrum on this platform!” Musk recently hosted Twitter Space interviews with Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, and Democrat candidate Robert Kennedy Jr.
According to Justin Wells, Carlson’s executive producer, the next episode of “Tucker on Twitter” will release Tuesday. The subject, he says, is “Tucker’s response to the indictment of President Donald Trump.”
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