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Tucker Carlson will relaunch his present on Twitter after being abruptly taken off air by Fox Information in April.
However who’s Tucker Carlson – and why has he been referred to as the “strongest conservative in America”?
Tucker Carlson Tonight
Carlson took up the prime-time weekday evenings spot on Fox Information in 2016 and shortly established himself as a key participant within the community and an influential voice in Republican politics.
The present was the highest-rated cable information programme in the important thing 25 to 54 age demographic, with Fox News the most-watched US cable information community. Rankings have slumped since his departure.
He usually embraced conspiracy theories and far-right points. He repeatedly questioned the efficacy of COVID vaccines and in contrast mandates to “Nazi experiments”.
Whereas he discovered success with viewers, his inflammatory feedback induced some advertisers to distance themselves from the programme.
In 2018 he mentioned immigrants would make the US “poorer and dirtier”, prompting an advertiser boycott.
Speaking concerning the Black Lives Matter motion in 2020, he mentioned: “This can be plenty of issues, this second we live by. However it’s undoubtedly not about black lives, and do not forget that after they come for you. And at this fee, they are going to.”
His exit from Fox Information
Carlson left Fox News in April, lower than per week after guardian firm Fox Corp agreed to pay $787.5m (£631m) to Dominion Voting Methods to avert a defamation trial.
The community supplied no rationalization for the transfer.
Dominion, which makes voting machines, had sued over the channel’s protection of false claims the machines rigged the 2020 election.
Carlson, 53, had been anticipated to testify within the Dominion trial.
In messages revealed as a part of the lawsuit, Carlson acknowledged the claims about voter fraud have been baseless. He additionally mentioned he “passionately” hated former president Donald Trump – a departure from his rhetoric on the present.
In his first public address after leaving Fox News, Carlson used a two-minute video to hit out at TV debates, calling them “silly” and saying “liars” are silencing “trustworthy folks”.
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Tucker Carlson turns to Twitter
Carlson has introduced he will reboot his show on Twitter, calling the positioning the final huge remaining platform to permit free speech.
“We’ll be bringing a brand new model of the present we have been doing for the final six and a half years to Twitter,” he mentioned in a three-minute video posted on the positioning, through which he denounced the media.
He supplied no different particulars and it was unclear what the plans meant for his remaining contract with Fox; usually tv corporations embody a no-compete clause when somebody leaves the air.
His politics
Carlson is a Republican who opposes abortion and gun management.
Regardless of the messages about Trump revealed within the Dominion case, Carlson’s assist for the previous president was credited with fuelling his success.
In a 2021 profile, Time journal labelled him the “strongest conservative in America”, fuelling controversy with right-wing rhetoric whereas sustaining report viewing figures.
Carlson’s most controversial takes
He has usually drawn controversy for incendiary statements about race, LGBTQ rights and different matters, and earlier this 12 months Carlson came under fire from Republicans when he described the lethal riots on the US capitol on 6 January 2021 as “largely peaceable chaos”.
In 2018 he mentioned immigrants would make the US “poorer and dirtier”, prompting advertisers to chop ties with Tucker Carlson Tonight.
He defended the actions of Kyle Rittenhouse, {the teenager} who shot useless two Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020.
Carlson mentioned Kenosha, the city the place the taking pictures occurred, had “devolved into anarchy” and added: “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles determined they needed to keep order when nobody else would?”.
He has made a string of derogatory feedback about ladies, together with telling author Lauren Duca to return to writing about thigh-high boots as an alternative of politics, calling journalist Arianna Huffington a “pig” and labelling Britney Spears and Paris Hilton “the largest white wh***s in America”.
His life earlier than Fox Information
Carlson was born in San Francisco in 1969 and started his journalism profession as a fact-checker for a conservative journal earlier than making the transfer to TV in 2000.
In his early years on-screen he was recognized for his signature bow tie, which he deserted in 2006.
He represented the political proper on CNN’s Crossfire from 2001 to 2004. When comic and The Late Present host Jon Stewart was a visitor in 2004, he lambasted the present and Carlson. Shortly after the present was cancelled.
Carlson went on to work for tv networks PBS and MSNBC. He co-founded political information web site The Each day Caller in 2010 and saved a stake within the firm till 2020.
He joined Fox Information as a contributor in 2009.
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