Kultur Kampf: Tucker and Fox 'News' Part Ways!

[Deus Mortis]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/don-lemon...072746878.html
Don Lemon and Tucker Carlson are hiring the same powerhouse lawyer — who's helped TV hosts secure multimillion-dollar payouts from their old networks

Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon have hired the same lawyer after leaving their respective networks.

Bryan Freedman is known as the go-to lawyer for multimillion-dollar payouts in messy media breakups.

He's worked for former TV hosts at ABC, NBC, and CNN, and a long list of celebrities.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson and CNN anchor Don Lemon both left their networks on Monday and have just hired the same powerhouse lawyer to handle their departures, according to multiple reports.

Neither host has announced a lawsuit or dispute against their employers. But the litigator they've retained — Bryan Freedman — has a record of helping TV hosts secure millions from their old networks.

Former CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter reported that both Carlson and Lemon are retaining Freedman's services, while The New York Times also wrote that Lemon had hired Freedman.

Messy media breakups are a staple for Freedman, famed for aggressively representing a laundry list of the entertainment world's most prominent figures. His clients include Vin Diesel, Quentin Tarantino, and Mariah Carey.

Freedman previously worked to help former host Megyn Kelly secure around $30 million from NBC News after she parted ways with the network in 2019. Kelly was fired halfway through her three-year contract worth $69 million, but NBC agreed to pay her the remainder of her original salary.

In 2021, Freedman also represented longtime "The Bachelor" host Chris Harrison, who reached a $10 million exit settlement with ABC after facing backlash over his comments on the show, per Variety.

Chris Cuomo, the anchor fired by CNN in December 2021, also hired Freedman in his ongoing wrongful termination suit against the network for $125 million.

Lemon, like Cuomo, appears to have left CNN on a bitter note too. In a tweet on Monday, he wrote that he was "terminated by CNN" and "stunned" by the announcement.

"After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly," he tweeted.

"It is clear that there are some larger issues at play," Lemon added.

CNN has disputed Lemon's statement, saying that he was "offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter."

As for Carlson, the now-ousted Fox News host only knew about his departure 10 minutes before the network made the announcement, The Wall Street Journal and The Times reported.

"I have no idea what's going on," Carlson told his staff at the time, according to The Daily Beast.

Freedman did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment for Carlson and Lemon, sent outside regular business hours. Lemon's agent also did not immediately respond to a similar request.

Hopefully neither of them receive a cent.

[Gorsameth]

"You cost us 800 million, that's grounds for getting fired".

[Fugus]

I don’t really watch TV much, who is Don Lemon?

[Edge-]

I don’t really watch TV much, who is Don Lemon?

CNN host who basically spent years being an idiot saying stupid shit and getting in trouble for it. He's been trash, but IMO isn't as bad as the bigger idiots like Wolf Blitzer.

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/cnn...ey-1235574286/

Variety has a lot of his fairly sexist garbage compiled plus some other details.

[Deus Mortis]

I don’t really watch TV much, who is Don Lemon?

An anchor from CNN who made misogynistic comments about women.

[Breccia]

I don’t really watch TV much, who is Don Lemon?

Lemon was with CNN for like 15 years or so, but his ratings have been slipping and, if I had to guess why he was fired, the most recent controversy I've seen is that he said "Nikki Haley is not in her prime" and it was considered sexist.

That's all the side by side you need.

Carlson: intentionally spread what he knew were falsehoods about the 2020 election, and presented them as fact, thereby not just opening the network up to liability from lawsuits but also directly attacking democracy itself. Never once admitted on air he was wrong. Kept for three years.

Lemon: said something considered sexist. Apologized on air almost immediately. Fired two months later.

I could be wrong about Lemon's departure, but unless it was "sold pandas out of a hatchback", I'm still pretty sure the parallel holds.

[Edge-]

Lemon was with CNN for like 15 years or so, but his ratings have been slipping and, if I had to guess why he was fired, the most recent controversy I've seen is that he said "Nikki Haley is not in her prime" and it was considered sexist.

It was pretty overtly sexist and ageist. Which is weird because had he said she was past her prime politically he'd absolutely be correct and could have avoided all the blowback.

But CNN does not exactly hire their hosts for their critical thinking and good decision making.

[Fugus]

Ah, thank you.

[Breccia]

It was pretty overtly sexist and ageist.

Al Franken's joke was also tasteless. He apologizes and resigned. I'm mostly interested in the side-by-side of what it takes for the right to finally decide it's had enough.

Oh, and I'm not defending Don Lemon, either. Like @Fugus I don't watch as much as read CNN anymore. I barely knew who he was.

[Ivanstone]

With Lemon he had a few “good” years after Trump got the nomination. I guess it’s easy to look good if you’re picking the low hanging fruit. He was entirely unremarkable before then and has since gone back to being unremarkable.

He should’ve lost his job years ago but quite frankly I would’ve canned Blitzer before Lemon. Their both a waste of money.

[Karreck]

Fox News has to pay out about 3/4 Billion dollars, Tucker Carlson got fired, AND Fox stock lost almost a billion in value?
I thought only bad news came in threes.

[Edge-]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b2326141.html

“Blindsided” Tucker Carlson was in the midst of negotiating a new contract with Fox News when he received a call from CEO Suzanne Scott on Monday morning telling him he had been fired from the right-wing network, according to a report.

Fox News announced that it had “parted ways” with its biggest star on Monday, days after settling a $787m defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems over lies about the 2020 presidential election.

Insiders told Vanity Fair that Carlson was caught off guard by the news and had recently been negotiating his contract renewal through 2029.

The order for his firing is believed to have come directly from Rupert Murdoch.

rofl

[D Luniz]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-b2326141.html



rofl

so the perfect storm of reasons to fire him came right when his contract might have ended, preventing any "golden parachute" clauses?

[NoiseTank13]

so the perfect storm of reasons to fire him came right when his contract might have ended, preventing any "golden parachute" clauses?

That's capitalism in action, Tucker!

[Milchshake]

Really sad, but not surprised to see a a piece in praise of Tucker from the ... Prospect.
The Smuggest Man On Air
Goodbye for now to Tucker Carlson, who punctured the lazy pieties of the media class.
Embracing Tucker Carlson as a misunderstood anti-corporate foe of imperialism. This reads like a kind of warmed over frivolous Greenwald/Fang co-production - maybe with a bit of Julian Assange tossed in. All blood and soil type right wing thinking is anti-corporate by this standard.

Guessing that David Dayen is aping to recreate that Intercept experience at a new rag.

[gondrin]

So, Carlson has already got a job offer, from a previous employee of Fox News that also got fired from them.

Someone with the same mentality and ideology as Carlson.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainm...80301c34&ei=11

Tucker Carlson Offered Job by ex-Fox Host After Leaving Network

After abruptly leaving Fox News on Monday, Tucker Carlson has received an informal offer of employment from another former host of the network, Glenn Beck.

Beck discussed the departure of the Fox News' rating star on Monday on his show on television and radio network TheBlaze, which he owns. Mentioning that he and Carlson have "become friends" over the years, Beck said he would love to have the television host working for his company.

"We would love to have you here. You won't miss a beat. And together, the two of us will tear it up. Just tear it up," he said, addressing Carlson while talking to presenter Stu Burguiere.

"That would be fascinating," Burguiere, who co-hosted the show, said.

"It would be," Beck replied, highlighting the hypothetical tone of the offer.

"I'm sure there will be quite a large contingency of people trying to get that," Burguiere continued.

"I think that will kill Fox. I really do," said Beck. "I know so many people that, you know, still kind of like Fox. And they watch the other shows. But they're like, Tucker, Tucker is the only one that I really trust. You lose Tucker Carlson. I think that really kills them. Hey, have I reminded you to join TheBlaze?"

The circumstances surrounding Carlson's departure from Fox News are still unclear as of early Tuesday but the announcement has followed weeks of turmoil for the network. Only a few days prior, Fox News settled a defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems for a total of $787.5 million.

While various media outlets have said that Carlson was ousted by the network, Fox News itself has been vague. The network announced Carlson's departure with a surprise statement that 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."

Beck and Burguiere read the statement during their show, with the former Fox News host saying that the network said "exactly" the same thing when he left. Beck worked for Fox News between January 2009 and June 2011 before moving to create his own radio and television network, TheBlaze.

Beck said that it's possible that Carlson was made to leave because the network had made it "unworkable" for him after asking him to "change maybe the format of the show" or wanting him to do things differently.

[Elegiac]

So, Carlson has already got a job offer, from a previous employee of Fox News that also got fired from them.

Someone with the same mentality and ideology as Carlson.

Here's the problem, though; there's no way Beck can afford to pay him anywhere close to what Fox was, and as Beck himself demonstrates he isn't going to have anywhere near the same level of reach.

Did I say problem? I meant good news. This is an irrecoverable blow dealt to the Julius Streicher of our time.

[gondrin]

Here's the problem, though; there's no way Beck can afford to pay him anywhere close to what Fox was, and as Beck himself demonstrates he isn't going to have anywhere near the same level of reach.

Did I say problem? I meant good news. This is an irrecoverable blow dealt to the Julius Streicher of our time.

Well, RT also offered him a job since he will be a perfect fit for the fascist regime of Putin. Thing about Beck is his reach is more on radio then television.

[Breccia]

Audiences flee FOX News for other right-wing shows.

After the surprise of Fox News and Tucker Carlson “agree[ing] to part ways” on Monday, the network’s 8 p.m. hour had a significantly smaller audience Monday night. The debut of Fox News Tonight, hosted by Brian Kilmeade (the first in a series of rotating hosts), pulled in just under 2.6 million viewers — about 21 percent below the average for Tucker Carlson Tonight (3.3 million viewers) over the past eight Mondays.

Fox News Tonight also took a hit in the key news demographic of adults 25-54: Its 0.24 rating was 37 percent lower than the 0.38 Carlson averaged over the prior eight Monday shows.

On the other hand, Newsmax — which was openly making a play for Fox News viewers in the wake of Carlson’s exit Monday — saw its audience jump in primetime. Eric Bolling the Balance (531,000 viewers) at 8 p.m. and Greg Kelly Reports (540,000) at 9 p.m. both had more than triple their average audience from the first quarter of the year (145,000 for Bolling and 141,000 for Kelly). It’s also worth noting that Kelly interviewed former president Donald Trump on his show Monday, which also may have helped boost the audience.

FOX News' ratings are still fine, but not as dominant. They're losing ground to MSNBC and Newsmax.

[Edge-]

Audiences flee FOX News for other right-wing shows.



FOX News' ratings are still fine, but not as dominant. They're losing ground to MSNBC and Newsmax.

Now we'll see if Fox repeats the, "If we just start talking crazier they'll come back." strategy that got them into this whole mess or if they'll see if simply waiting it out results in these people getting bored of the alternatives and going back to what's familiar.