Tucker Carlson's Last Words on His Show Were 'We'll See You Monday'

The longtime Fox News host, whose departure was announced Monday morning, appeared on what would be his final show three nights earlier

The bombshell announcement that Tucker Carlson has left Fox News came just days after the right-wing personality ended what would be his final episode on Friday with the signoff that he would be "back Monday."

Following a segment in which he ate pizza with a guest, Carlson, 53, turned to the camera and said, "We'll be back on Monday; in the meantime, have the best weekend."

In a statement on Monday morning, Fox News said the network and 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 Friday. Beginning Monday evening, the network will air Fox News Tonight as an interim show helmed by rotating Fox News personalities until a new host is determined.

Carlson featured prominently 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 company recently settled with the network, but not before text messages and emails by Carlson and other network personalities were made public as part of court filings.

In one of the exchanges made public, Carlson texts a colleague: "We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can't wait."

"I hate him passionately," Carlson added.

The text exchange was dated Jan. 4, 2021, two days before pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory in the presidential election. Rioters believed that the election had been rigged against Trump, a lie spread by many conservatives without supporting evidence.

In another exchange made public in March, Carlson wrote: "We're all pretending we've got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it's been is too tough to digest. But come on. There really isn't an upside to Trump."

Related:Tucker Carlson Wrote He 'Passionately' Hated Trump in Text to Colleague, Court Filing Reveals

Carlson's text messages are among a large tranche of private conversations and under-oath testimony from executives and hosts at Fox News, which Dominion argued in its complaint "sold a false story of election fraud in order to serve its own commercial purposes, severely injuring Dominion in the process."

Fox argued, in a counterclaim, that Dominion "mischaracterized the record" and "cherry-picked quotes stripped of key context."

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In a statement sent to PEOPLE amid the legal battle, a spokesperson for Fox accused Dominion of using "distortions and misinformation" in what it called a "PR campaign to smear FOX News and trample on free speech and freedom of the press."

Dominion settled with Fox last week.

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