Fox News is considering legal action against its former prime-time anchor, Tucker Carlson, for an alleged breach of his contract.
The network issued a statement through its lawyers, asserting that the contract was violated when Carlson started his own show on Twitter.
In a letter sent to Carlson’s legal team, Bernard Gugar, the general counsel for Fox News, stated, “This evening we were made aware of Mr. Tucker Carlson’s appearance on Twitter in a video that lasted over 10 minutes. Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, Mr. Carlson’s ‘services shall be completely exclusive to Fox.’ Mr. Carlson is in breach of this agreement and we reserve all rights and remedies available to us at law or equity.”
Carlson’s lawyers argue that his First Amendment rights would be infringed upon by any legal action from Fox.
Bryan Freedman, representing Carlson, said to Axios, “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.”
The dispute comes on the heels of Carlson’s removal from Fox News in April, following a $787 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems.
Carlson’s contract with Fox was initially signed in November 2019 and later revised in February 2021 and expressly states that 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.'”
A source close to the situation disclosed to Axios that Carlson’s legal team is contesting Fox’s move to block his Twitter show on the grounds that Twitter does not pose direct competition to Fox News.
In his debut on “Tucker on Twitter,” the former Fox News host raised controversial questions about various topics, including the recent disaster at the Caco Dam in Ukraine.
He questioned whether Ukraine could be responsible for the dam’s destruction, criticizing the mainstream media’s immediate blame on Russia.
Carlson also discussed the media’s portrayal of Ukraine’s leader, highlighted political figures’ positions on Ukraine, and moved the discussion to the suppression of information and even the existence of UFOs, urging viewers to question the narratives presented by mainstream sources.
Watch the episode below:
