Tucker Carlson is scheming to force his way out of a noncompete clause in his Fox News contract to take his popular broadcast to another network.
The right-wing broadcaster got dumped by the conservative network on April 24, nearly a week after settling a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million -- and sources told Variety that Carlson's ouster was a necessary condition of the agreement.
“That condition was intended to hurt Fox, and Tucker is just collateral damage,” said a source familiar with the matter. “Dominion wanted to punish Fox, and it’s working.”
According to multiple sources with knowledge of the conversation, Carlson spoke by phone April 26 with one of Fox Corp.'s eight board members, who told him that Dominion would not agree to the settlement offer unless he was benched, although that deal was made verbally and does not appear in legal documents -- but both sides denied those claims.
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“As the Fox principals who negotiated the settlement well know, Dominion made no demands about Tucker Carlson’s employment orally or in writing,” Dominion said in a statement. “Any claims otherwise are categorically false and a thinly veiled effort to further damage Dominion. Fox should take every effort to stop these lies immediately.”
However, sources say Carlson came away from the conversation understanding that Dominion hoped to harm Fox News by forcing out its top-rated host, and now he intends to inflict harm on his former employer if he's not allowed to take his broadcast to Twitter or some other carrier.
"If Fox tries to prevent Carlson from launching the show on the social media platform, where he enjoys a following of 7.5 million, the host is prepared to litigate or 'watch the network implode attempting to challenge free speech,'" one of the sources told Variety.
Carlson remains technically employed by Fox News, which has not terminated his employment and is still paying him $20 million a year, but he's hired Hollywood attorney Bryan Freedman for the contract dispute.
"As such, Freedman sent a letter to Fox on May 9 saying Fox employees, including 'Rupert Murdoch himself,' broke promises to Carlson 'intentionally and with reckless disregard for the truth,'" Variety reported.