‘I Can’t Imagine that Maria Bartiromo Is Sleeping Well Tonight’: Carlson's Firing Reverberates Across Media
Hard-right host's ouster becomes fodder for late-night comedians
News of the surprise ouster of hard-right propagandist Tucker Carlson at Fox News echoed across US media Monday, with Carlson's fate dissected and, even mocked, throughout the cable news ecosystem as well as the subject of comedy by late-night funnymen.
Fox News announced Monday that it had parted ways with its star primetime host just days after the right-wing network agreed to pay an unprecedented $787.5 million to settle defamation claims by a voting technology company related to Fox's promulgation of lies that Donald Trump was the true winner of the 2020 presidential election.
“I can’t imagine Maria Bartiromo is sleeping well tonight. If you’re willing to let go of Tucker Carlson with his ratings, why wouldn’t they jettison her?” quipped CNN host Anderson Cooper, referring to another Fox host who spread lies on-camera about the 2020 election.
The announcement of Carlson's firing was a sparse statement, and the truth is that the cause of his departure is not actually known.
“Carlson disparaged network leadership in text messages. He’s accused of a hostile and sexist work environment. He continued to downplay January 6 and play up conspiracy theories about the attack, but while the network’s official statement today explained very little, it’s unlikely coincidental that the departure comes so close to the record setting settlement with dominion voting systems,” noted CNN host Michael Smerconish. “If so, that litigation did something that no boycott ever achieved, it removed from the most popular cable outlet its most watched talent. That means the civil justice system worked in a remediative way, just as it has to other products that posed harm to society.”
MSNBC host — and frequent Carlson antagonist — Joy Reid noted that, with his departure from Fox, Carlson has racked up perhaps a dubious achievement.
“So no grand send-off for Tuckems. No final show for him to sign off with his viewers it’s almost hard to believe that just months ago, Tucker wielded so much power, Kevin McCarthy traded him 40,000 hours of exclusive January 6 footage in his hostage deal to become speaker, yet today, Tucker has officially achieved something that I don’t think anyone else in our industry can claim: being let go by all three major cable news networks, MSNBC — yes, he used to work here — CNN, after Jon Stewart humiliated him live on air, and now Fox,” Reid said. “But Tucker has also achieved something else he arguably has done more on cable television to spread the gospel of hate, fear, and paranoia than anyone since radio propagandist Father Coughlin in the Nazi era of the 1930s. Here’s just a sample of the content that arguably radicalized millions and millions of Americans.”
Reid was referring to Father Charles Coughlin, a priest who became an early success in radio broadcasting and ultimately used the medium to support Nazi Adolf Hitler's evil policies.
Aside from the serious analysis of Carlson's ouster and legacy, he also became a prime target for the late-night comedians in their Monday monologues.
“That’s right. Fox News has severed bow ties with Tucker Carlson. After all these years, they are parting ways. Uh which means he was fired. I mean, that’s really what ‘parting ways’ means. He was said to be stunned by the movie reportedly was in the middle of renegotiating his contract. Someone released a photograph of Tucker’s face the moment he found out he was being fired and you can see he was surprised to say the least,” ABC funnyman Jimmy Kimmel joked, putting up a photo of Carlson's trademark “confused face.” “He couldn’t be reached for comment. He’s already on a plane to Moscow to meet with his manager. But what a shock I mean, what an absolutely delightful shock.”
Over on NBC, the host of the Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon, also joked about Carlson's departure.
“Today Fox News announced that they are parting ways with Tucker Carlson. Some people aren’t sure what led to his exit, but Fox says they can think of almost a a billion reasons why,” Fallon quipped. “Yep, Tucker Carlson is out. When he heard, Vladimir Putin was like, ‘Damn, we need a new PR guy.’
“It’s easy to make jokes about Tucker being gone, but now who is going to tell me which M&M is most woke, you know,” Fallon added. “Fox knows their viewers are going to miss Tucker, so until they find a replacement, his show will be hosted by a golf shirt with the collars popped.”
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