Today In Cable News DRAMA: Tucker Carlson Is Out At Fox News And Don Lemon Has Been Fired From CNN
Things are going to be a little awkward at the back of the unemployment line today. Because former Fox News sweetheart Tucker Carlson and former CNN sweetheart Don Lemon are both out of a job after getting shit-canned by their network. Since both Fox News and CNN are down a messy anchor, I bet that they’re currently in a bidding war with each other to land Kerry from Succession!
Don Lemon has been part of CNN since 2016 and hosted Don Lemon Tonight for eight years before hosting CNN This Morning, which debuted in November. For many CNN watchers, they could only stomach Don Lemon when he was six shades of plastered on New Year’s Eve. Because Don has a long history of mouth-shitting up streams of dumb. Most recently, Variety published an exposé on Don’s alleged toxic behavior toward female co-workers at CNN. That came after Don was called out for saying that women in their 50s are “past their prime” while talking about Nikki Haley running for President. Well, women in their 50s are getting the last laugh today because CNN has decided that it’s Don Lemon who is past his prime by pink-slipping him. via CNN:
“Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years,” said CNN CEO Chris Licht in a memo to staff. “We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.”
Lemon anchored “CNN This Morning” with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins. The show has been on the air for nearly six months.
“We are committed to its success,” Licht said of the morning show.
Not one to miss out on bringing more drama, Don spit at CNN on Twitter, claiming that the heads of the network didn’t even have the decency and respect to directly let him know he was fired, and instead, he found out through his agent:
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) April 24, 2023
But CNN has stamped “FAKE NEWS” on Don’s claims and said that he turned down a meeting with them:
CNN rebutted Lemon, calling his version of events “inaccurate.”
“He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter,” the network said in a statement.
Speaking of fake news, Tucker Carlson tucked around and found out. At the end of Friday’s episode of his former Fox News show, Tucker Carlson told his viewers, “We’ll be back on Monday.” That was the last lie that Tucker told on Fox News because he won’t be back today or tomorrow or anytime soon. One of Fox News’ biggest cash cows was fired EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. He’s been with Fox News since 2009. via The Hill:
Tucker Carlson has parted ways with Fox News, the network said on Monday.
“We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” the network said in a statement.
Carlson’s last show was Friday, the network said.
Fox said it would air a new program called “Fox News Tonight” at 8 p.m. starting Monday evening as an interim show helmed by rotating Fox News personalities until a new host is named.
Carlson was Fox’s top-rated prime-time host, netting an average of more than 3 million viewers per night, the most of any pundit on cable television.
As for why he got fired, The Washington Post says that the network didn’t like him talking shit about them. The defamation lawsuit between Fox Corp. and Dominion Voting Systems (which was eventually settled for $787 million) exposed Tucker’s thoughts about his bosses.
But it was Carlson’s comments about Fox management, as revealed in the Dominion case, that played a role in his departure from Fox, a person familiar with the company’s thinking told The Post.
“Do the executives understand how much credibility and trust we’ve lost with our audience?” Carlson wrote to a colleague in a message a day after Fox, like other media outlets, called the election for Joe Biden. It was a sentiment echoed by others at Fox in the fall of 2020, as even network officials who disbelieved Trump’s election-fraud conspiracy theories fretted that countering them strongly would alienate their conservative viewers.
In another message, Carlson referred to management with an expletive: “Those fuckers are destroying our credibility.” He later wrote: “A combination of incompetent liberals and top leadership with too much pride to back down is what’s happening.”
And as the Racist Bow Tie Brigade cries for Fox News’ fallen white supremacist cosplayer, others like Whoopi Goldberg and The View are chanting, “BYE BITCH!”
The studio audience at @TheView broke out in applause when Tucker Carlson's ouster was announced. Then the co-hosts did a wave and led the crowd in singing "GOODBYE." pic.twitter.com/BVNnMDLzdq
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 24, 2023
Meanwhile, YouTube reporter Megyn Kelly is probably putting on Groucho Marx disguise glasses to head to CNN and Fox News’ hiring offices to ask for an application.
Pic: Fox News, CNN