Right-wing influencer Tucker Carlson is reportedly courting investments for a new media company that would bring content similar to what he posts on Twitter to subscribers.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Carlson is teaming up with conservative political adviser Neil Patel, with whom he launched the Daily Caller in 2010, to raise hundreds of million dollars. Carlson’s project would “potentially use Twitter as backbone,” the Journal said.
The 54-year-old conspiracy peddler parted ways with Fox News in April after the network paid Dominion Voting systems a $787.5 million settlement for lies they reported about that company’s services. Racist and sexist text messages from Carlson were unearthed during the discovery phase of that trial.
Fox News also shelled out $12 million to a former Carlson producer last month after she claimed to have been subject to a hostile work environment while working on his primetime show.
And it’s entirely possible Carlson hasn’t finished costing his former employer money.
Arizona man Ray Epps sued Fox News earlier this week, claiming his life was thrown into chaos after Carlson engaged in “nonsensical fantasies” about his being a federal informant who betrayed MAGA extremists during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — despite there being no known evidence that was true.
Carlson — the son of famed broadcaster Dick Carlson — began posting videos on Twitter last month espousing similar rhetoric to what once made him the biggest star on Fox News. The network reportedly responded with a cease-and-desist notice claiming rights to Carlson’s content through 2024.
That didn’t dissuade the pugnacious pundit from posting more videos, including a Tuesday interview with infamous chauvinist Andrew Tate, who is awaiting trial on human trafficking charges in Romania. Twitter owner Elon Musk, himself no stranger to outlandish disinformation, promoted Carlson’s “interesting interview” on Twitter.
Carlson also demonstrated Friday that his sway over conservative politicians hasn’t diminished by hosting a summit in Iowa at which former Vice President Mike Pence summarized the Jan. 6 attack as a “riot” rather than an “insurrection.”
Carlson has been criticized by law enforcement officials, colleagues and members of Congress for widely misrepresenting the events of that day.
