It’s been two months since Fox News canned Tucker Carlson, but it didn’t take him too long to find a new home. Earlier this month, he debuted his new “show” on his new platform: Twitter, where he’s been dropping videos that roughly approximate what he used to do on primetime network television. The move quickly got him in trouble with his old employers, who have him under contract into early 2025. Was it worth it? Possibly not.
A new report by The Guardian digs into Tucker’s battle with Fox News, who are still demanding a “cease and desist” from their former biggest star. Other than that, though, neither side has done much to advance the war. It’s been clear, though, that firing Carlson hurt them in ratings.
But, in a bit teased out by Raw Story, Carlson’s not doing great either. His first Twitter video racked up a stunning 120 million views, suggesting either that it was an instant hit…or that tons of people were simply interested to see what his first Twitter video was like. Alas for Tucker, it might be the latter: As The Guardian notes, a video posted on June 20, about the Hunter Biden plea bargain, racked up “fewer than 15m views.”
For some perspective that’s an eighth of the views nabbed by Tucker’s first video. (For the record, his most recent video, from June 22, did slightly better, with 26.4 million views.)
Fox News stars don’t have a great track record after leaving or being fired by the network. Megyn Kelly flamed out at NBC News, and though she occasionally makes news she’s far from her former glory. And you rarely hear from Bill O’Reilly these days except when he goes off on a quickly short-circuiting tour with the GOP’s current frontrunner. Perhaps Tucker’s future will follow a similar path, especially given that his defenses of the Russian invasion aren’t aging so well.
(Via The Guardian and Raw Story)