Former Fox News host Glenn Beck predicted that Tucker Carlson’s exit from the network would contribute greatly to its downfall.
“Tucker Carlson is out at Fox News. Now, I don’t know what that means. You know, we’re in wild speculation territory,” Beck said on his BlazeTV program on Monday.
“I don’t know what his contract was” between Carlson and Fox News, Beck said. “It very well could be, that they couldn’t fire him, because they didn’t have cause. And so they wanted to change maybe the format of the show,” he said.
Speculating, Beck added that Fox News may have “wanted him to do things differently ... and make it unworkable for him. So that way he would say, I’m not doing that. And they would say, well, the only other thing is that you leave. Well, I have a contract. Fine, we'll pay it out. Because if they fired him, he had to pay it out anyway.”
Beck noted that the timing of Carlson’s departure was also unusual after he had just interviewed Elon Musk and days before that, former President Donald Trump.
“The guy is at the top ... three days with Elon Musk last week. He gets to sit down with Elon Musk ... and you’re gone the next week? Never seen anything like it. Never seen anything like it,” Beck said.
A longtime conservative commentator, Beck left his Fox News show in 2011 before founding TheBlaze. Beck recently appeared on Carlson’s program to discuss Trump’s arraignment and indictment in New York City several weeks ago.
Beck is among a range of high-profile conservative figures who have criticized Fox after it parted ways with Carlson. Former Fox anchor Megyn Kelly predicted it would be a “terrible move,” while Donald Trump Jr. said in a podcast episode that it “changes things permanently.”
Earlier this year, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) gave Carlson exclusive access to security tapes from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol breach, which the show used to conclude: “The footage does not show an insurrection or riot in progress.” In one instance, his show aired footage of “Q Shaman” Jacob Chansley being walked through the premises of the Capitol with several Capitol Police officers, which Carlson said he found unusual.
For the time being, “Fox News Tonight” will continue to air in Carlson’s 8 p.m. Eastern prime-time slot, hosted by a rotating array of network personalities. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” the press release from the network said.
Meanwhile, CNN axed its own embattled anchor, Don Lemon, as part of a one-day bloodletting in cable television news on Monday. Lemon had been a bad fit with his fellow morning hosts and was forced to apologize to GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley for his comment that she was past her prime.
Carlson, however, had a greater influence, a higher viewer count, and a more shocking exit. He worked at both CNN and MSNBC earlier in his career, then ditched his bow-tie look and quickly became Fox’s most popular personality after replacing Bill O’Reilly in the network’s prime-time lineup in 2017.
On Monday night, viewers tuned in to morning anchor Brian Kilmeade, who said that Carlson was gone, “as you may have heard.”
“I wish Tucker the best,” Kilmeade said. “I’m great friends with Tucker and always will be.”
The Epoch Times has contacted Fox News for comment. Carlson, meanwhile, has not publicly responded to the company’s statement.
