A Timeline of Tucker Carlson's Controversies
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Here's a look back at some of Tucker Carlson's controversial moments since he first joined Fox Network in 2009
Fox News announced that Tucker Carlson is leaving the network.
In a statement shared on April 24, the network said "FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor."
Carlson's last program was April 21. The network will now air Fox News Tonight as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is determined.
The news of the TV star's exit came shortly after Fox News settled a $1.6 billion lawsuit (brought against them by voting equipment company Dominion Voting Systems) for $787.5 million.
Dominion Voting Systems filed suit against Fox News in March 2021, accusing it of knowingly airing false statements claiming Dominion helped to rig the 2020 presidential election against former President Donald Trump. In the results' wake, the tech company was the subject of conspiracies of widespread election fraud and other wrongdoing.
Related:Tucker Carlson Departs Fox News, Effective Immediately
The company has argued that some of the people spreading the lies about election fraud — including, it argues, Fox News personalities — privately acknowledged they did not believe the conspiracy theories, but still amplified them on-air, allegedly in order to get ratings. The company claimed this argument was supported by private text messages from Carlson and other network employees that were disclosed as part of the lawsuit.
Outside of the $1.6 billion lawsuit, Carlson found himself the center of controversy several times since his tenure at Fox News began in 2009, followed by his co-hosting gig at Fox and Friends Weekend from 2012 to 2016, and then landing his eponymous nightly show in November 2016.
Most recently, Carlson found himself entangled in another lawsuit alongside his Fox colleagues filed by former Tucker Carlson Tonight producer Abby Grossberg, who alleges she experienced harassment and discrimination.
Here's a timeline of Carlson's controversial moments through the years.
2011: Tucker Carlson says footballer Michael Vick should be 'executed' for dog mistreatment
During a 2011 guest hosting gig on Sean Hannity's show on Fox, Carlson made headlines when he said that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick, who pled guilty in 2007 to a federal charge of operating an unlawful interstate dog fighting venture, "should have been executed" for his mistreatment of dogs.
About a week later, he returned to the show to apologize. "Anybody who looks into how he mistreated these dogs and personally tortured them to death gets upset and I over-spoke. I'm not comfortable with the death penalty under any circumstances."
He added, "Of course I don't think he should be executed."
Dec. 23, 2016: Tucker Carlson faces backlash after interview with interview with Teen Vogue contributor Lauren Duca
After an on-air conversation between Carlson and Teen Vogue contributor Lauren Duca boiled over regarding her commentary on Trump, the political host dismissed the writer and told her to "stick to the thigh-high boots" in reference to the pop-culture stories she also writes about for the publication. "You're better at that," Carlson said before wrapping the interview.
Duca defended herself on Twitter after the interview, writing, "[Tucker Carlson] is an enemy of rational discourse. In this fraught moment, his bully tactics are profoundly damaging, and achieve nothing."
Dec. 15, 2018: Tucker Carlson suggests immigrants would make the country 'poorer and dirtier'
In December 2018, Carlson made offensive comments about immigration during the opening of an episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight and lost show advertisers as a result.
"Our leaders demand that you shut up and accept this," he said at the time. "We have a moral obligation to admit the world's poor, they tell us, even if it makes our own country poorer and dirtier and more divided. Immigration is a form of atonement."
In the wake of his controversial remarks, more than 30 advertisers cut ties with Carlson's show in the months that followed, including iHop, Red Lobster, and Samsung. Rather than apologizing, Carlson doubled down on his anti-immigration claims a few days later.
"The left says we have a moral obligation to admit the world's poor. Even if it makes our own country more like Tijuana is now, which is to say poorer and dirtier and more divided," he said.
March 26, 2021: Dominion sues Fox News for $1.6B over election coverage, singling out Tucker Carlson
Carlson was prominently featured in a $1.6 billion lawsuit brought against Fox News by voting equipment company Dominion Voting Systems, which was the subject of conspiracies of widespread election fraud and other wrongdoing in the wake of the November 2020 presidential election.
The voting equipment company — which found itself the target of conspiracies of widespread election fraud and other wrongdoing — sued multiple of Trump's allies in recent months for repeating lies about them, of which Carlson was one of them.
In addition, the suit singled out some of the company's other prominent conservative hosts such as Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs, Hannity and Jeanine Pirro. Part of the lawsuit chronologically documented what Dominion said was the hosts' knowing and reckless disregard of the truth about the company and Fox News' publication or broadcast of those comments across its platforms.
Sept. 2, 2022: Tucker Carlson calls Maren Morris 'lunatic' amid transgender rights remark
Following a social media feud with country singer Jason Aldean's wife Brittany about transgender rights, Maren Morris found herself the topic of conversation when Brittany appeared on Carlson's show to discuss the matter.
A statement previously said by Brittany drew backlash from Morris and others in the country music industry after she disparaged parents of transgender youth on Instagram. Meanwhile, during Brittany's appearance on Carlson's show, he referred to Morris as a "lunatic."
In the wake of the drama, Morris made light of the situation by releasing a merch line to clap back at the insult said to her by Carlson. The shirt features her name with the words "Lunatic Country Music Person," referencing the moniker he dubbed her. The shirts also have the Trans Lifeline phone number. (She raised over $100k since launching the line to benefit trans rights groups.)
Oct. 6, 2022: Tucker Carlson interviews Kanye West about 'White Lives Matter' shirt
Kanye West defended his decision to wear a "White Lives Matter" shirt at his Yeezy Season 9 presentation during 2022 Paris Fashion Week on Tucker Carlson Tonight. The interview with Carlson was aired in two parts.
"I do certain things from a feeling, I just channel the energy. It just feels right. It's using a gut instinct, a connection with God, and just brilliance," West explained of the choice in part.
Feb. 17, 2023: Tucker Carlson's text calling Trump 'demonic' surfaces
A court filing made public in February 2023 revealed that Carlson, Hannity and Laura Ingraham were privately critical of Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen, with Carlson going so far as to call the former president "demonic." Publicly, however, the network continued to offer a platform to Trump loyalists who amplified the false claims.
The filing (part of the case brought by voting equipment company Dominion Voting Systems) included excerpts of text messages sent from and to some of the network's hosts and executives. Among the exchanges are several that describe Trump's false election claims and those that peddled them as "f---ing lunatics," "complete bs," and "mind blowingly nuts."
Carlson, in other conversations in the wake of the election, privately took aim at Trump himself, calling the then-president "the undisputed world champion" of "destroying things," and worrying that he would "destroy us if we play it wrong."
Related:In Text Messages, Fox News Host Tucker Carlson Called Trump 'Demonic Force,' Doubted Election Fraud
March 6, 2023: Tucker Carlson downplays Jan. 6 Capitol attack
Carlson faced backlash from Republican and Democratic lawmakers alike when describing footage from the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol as "mostly peaceful chaos." The downplay comment came as he aired select snippets from 41,000 hours of security footage from the day of the riots.
"'Deadly insurrection.' Everything about that phrase is a lie," Carlson said on his weeknight program, reported The Hill. "Very little about Jan. 6 was organized or violent. Surveillance video from inside the Capitol shows mostly peaceful chaos.'"
March 8, 2023: Tucker Carlson's text that he 'passionately' hates Trump surfaces
More text exchanges between Carlson Fox News colleagues surfaced in the court filing tied to the $1.6 billion lawsuit by Dominion, contradicting the host's public embrace of Trump on his show.
The company has argued that some of the people spreading the lies about election fraud — including, it argues, Fox News personalities — privately acknowledged they did not believe the conspiracy theories, but still amplified them on-air, allegedly in order to get ratings.
One text between Carlson and a colleague read, "We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can't wait," according to The Washington Post; he added "I hate him passionately."
Related:Tucker Carlson Wrote He 'Passionately' Hated Trump in Text to Colleague, Court Filing Reveals
March 27, 2023: Tucker Carlson's producer Abby Grossberg files lawsuits against Fox News
Grossberg was fired by the network near March's end, after she filed her own lawsuit alleging she experienced harassment and discrimination, and that Fox News lawyers "coerced, intimidated, and misinformed" her as they prepared her to testify in Dominion's defamation suit. (In an amended complaint, she alleged her firing was in retaliation for her suit, though the network alleged she had disclosed privileged information in her legal claims.)
Insider reported that she filed suit against Carlson and other Fox executives, accusing them of running "a work environment that subjugates women based on vile sexist stereotypes. Her federal suit — which contained numerous allegations of sexism and anti-Semitism in the workplace, per NPR — named Carlson as a defendant, along with other superiors at the network.
Speaking to NBC News' Cynthia McFadden during a televised interview in the week following the firing, Grossberg alleged she was "bullied, intimidated and coerced into saying that [under oath] just to keep my job and stay at the company."
She continued: "And the question a lot of people would have is, 'Why would you do that?' I made the decision to keep my job so that I can keep paying my bills. It seemed like the safer decision for me at the time."
Related:Ex-Fox News Producer Says She Was 'Coerced' into Being 'Company Scapegoat': 'They Destroy People'
April 24, 2023: Tucker Carlson departs from Fox News
Fox News announced in statement that Carlson is leaving the network. It read, "FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor."
Carlson's last program was the Friday prior to the Monday morning announcement. The network will air Fox News Tonight as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is determined beginning that Monday night on April 24.
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