The New York Times reported Wednesday that there were text messages from former Fox host Tucker Carlson that were so bad that it is what ultimately led to his downfall.
Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Thursday about it, reporter Michael S. Schmidt explained that the messages redacted in public court documents were so bad it wasn't worth keeping their highest-viewed host.
"Despite the fact that Fox’s trial lawyers had these messages for months, the board and some senior executives were now learning about their details for the first time, setting off a crisis at the highest level of the company," the Times said, according to two sources.
It's something that, Wallace said, was so awful that it is worse than anything he's ever had on any of his shows. The reporting explained that they were bad, but Schmidt implied that they were far worse than anything else they had from Carlson that was public.
"I can only describe the way that people, you know, reacted," said Schmidt. "When they saw it — and what they saw, they didn't think it was survivable for the network to have known about it and to allow him to stay on the air. I realize that is not a satisfying answer to many people."
He explained that the Times along with a number of other media companies, have pressed to get the full court documents, including the redactions, to be made public.
"That will be an effort that goes on, and we're trying through our own reporting and the reporting that got us to this point to try and bring to light what it is. It is a very fair question what is the straw that breaks the camel's back? What is the point at which in the modern-day conservative media landscape or whatever, what is the breaking point for people and for institutions? I'd really like to know what the text message says. To understand that, what was it that really put this over the edge."
Carlson made a statement Wednesday where he didn't exactly address the specifics. Instead, he went on a rant about how pointless his show was and what he did for Fox. He even went on to complain that none of the conversations are on things that matter like "war, civil liberties, emerging science, demographic change, corporate power, natural resources." Carlson spent a week on his show talking about the perceived gender of the cartoon characters of M&Ms.
See the conversation below or at the link here.