Two media industry bombshells went off within minutes of each other on Monday 24 April, with two of the biggest names in the cable news business abruptly leaving their respective perches.
At Fox News, the conservative culture warrior Tucker Carlson is out after dominating the channel’s primetime lineup for more than a half decade. And at CNN, morning host Don Lemon’s tenure came to a sudden end despite his years as the face of the network’s New Year’s Eve celebration coverage.
Altogether it was a shocking day of shakeups for the news business, compounded by the news late last week that Pulitzer-winning newsroom BuzzFeed News was being shuttered by its owners.
But why exactly did two of the most prominent (and well-paid) hosts in TV news leave the helm at what seems like the height of their careers?
Don Lemon
While the reasoning isn’t yet totally clear in Lemon’s case, one thing is certain: His exit from CNN was involuntary.
The longtime host revealed in a tweeted statement that he had been fired, with company management declining to inform him personally; CNN has not commented on the reasoning publicly either.
In his statement, Lemon wrote that he was “stunned” to learn of his termination and thanked his colleagues at the network for an “incredible run”. Shortly after his tweet, Lemon’s face and name had been scrubbed from the list of anchors and hosts on CNN’s website.
The ex-CNN host didn’t speculate on the exact reason for his firing, while only suggesting that there were “larger issues at play”. But his ouster and preceding suspension came in the aftermath of comments he made on-air about Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and current candidate for the 2024 GOP nomination. Describing the ex-UN ambassador under Donald Trump as “past her prime”, the former CNN host suggested that Republican voters would not latch on to the theme of “new leadership in Washington” which Ms Haley’s campaign has promoted as her run for the White House began.
Lemon also had a contentious exchange on the issue of race with presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy in recent days, during which he could be seen telling off his producers for interrupting him; the entire exchange reportedly caused consternations with CNN’s leadership.
In his statement on Monday, Lemon wrote that “[a]t no time was [he] ever given any indication” that he would not return to normal duties at CNN as a result of the comments or any other reasons.
CNN pushed back on Lemon’s version of events, however.
“Don Lemon’s statement about this morning’s events is inaccurate. He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter.”
Tucker Carlson
The case of Fox’s most popular host is a fascinating one. While the terms of his departure are not yet clear thanks to a vague statement released by the network explaining that the two parties had “agreed to part ways”, it appears likely that Carlson and his executive producer Justin Wells’ exits were a direct result of the network’s $787.5m settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, announced last week just as Fox’s defamation trial was set to begin.
The Los Angeles Times reported shortly after the initial news that the boot came at the behest of FoxCorp chairmain Rupert Murdoch. Vanity Fair reported that the announcement came as a shock to Carlson, who was in the middle of contract negotiations to extend his tenure. The outlet further reported that Carlson has told colleagues that he beleives the reason to be linked to a supposed desire by the Murdoch family to sell the company.
Carlson had dominated the network’s primetime lineup as the anchor of its highest-rated show since 2016, when The O’Reilly Factor host Bill O’Reilly left the channel under a cloud of news about settlements the network had reached with women who accused him of sexual misconduct.
Carlson’s embrace of misinformation and outright lies about the 2020 election and Dominion machines — as well as those on the Trump campaign who promoted them — were cited in the embarrassing discovery phase of the Dominion suit as an example of how Fox hosts were spreading claims that they themselves knew to be untrue in the weeks after the election.
The move appeared to be very sudden, given that Fox promos were running throughout Monday morning advertising the day’s upcoming episode (featuring an interview with Republican candidate Vivek Ramaswamy) up until the moment the network announced his departure.
