Who is Tucker Carlson, the fired Fox News host?

Tucker Carlson will relaunch his show on Twitter after being abruptly taken off air by Fox News in April.

But who is Tucker Carlson – and why has he been called the “most powerful conservative in America”?

Tucker Carlson Tonight

Carlson took up the prime-time weekday evenings spot on Fox News in 2016 and quickly established himself as a key player in the network and an influential voice in Republican politics.

The show was the highest-rated cable news programme in the key 25 to 54 age demographic, with Fox News the most-watched US cable news network. Ratings have slumped since his departure.

He often embraced conspiracy theories and far-right issues. He repeatedly questioned the efficacy of COVID vaccines and compared mandates to “Nazi experiments”.

While he found success with viewers, his inflammatory comments caused some advertisers to distance themselves from the programme.

In 2018 he said immigrants would make the US “poorer and dirtier”, prompting an advertiser boycott.

Talking about the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, he said: “This may be a lot of things, this moment we are living through. But it is definitely not about black lives, and remember that when they come for you. And at this rate, they will.”

His exit from Fox News

Carlson left Fox News in April, less than a week after parent company Fox Corp agreed to pay $787.5m (£631m) to Dominion Voting Systems to avert a defamation trial.

The network offered no explanation for the move.

Dominion, which makes voting machines, had sued over the channel’s coverage of false claims the machines rigged the 2020 election.

Carlson, 53, had been expected to testify in the Dominion trial.

In messages revealed as part of the lawsuit, Carlson acknowledged the claims about voter fraud were baseless. He also said he “passionately” hated former president Donald Trump – a departure from his rhetoric on the show.

In his first public address after leaving Fox News, Carlson used a two-minute video to hit out at TV debates, calling them “stupid” and saying “liars” are silencing “honest people”.

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Tucker Carlson turns to Twitter

Carlson has announced he will reboot his show on Twitter, calling the site the last big remaining platform to allow free speech.

“We’ll be bringing a new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter,” he said in a three-minute video posted on the site, in which he denounced the media.

He offered no other details and it was unclear what the plans meant for his remaining contract with Fox; typically television companies include a no-compete clause when someone leaves the air.

His politics

Carlson is a Republican who opposes abortion and gun control.

Despite the messages about Trump revealed in the Dominion case, Carlson’s support for the former president was credited with fuelling his success.

In a 2021 profile, Time magazine labelled him the “most powerful conservative in America”, fuelling controversy with right-wing rhetoric while maintaining record viewing figures.

Carlson’s most controversial takes

He has regularly drawn controversy for incendiary statements about race, LGBTQ rights and other topics, and earlier this year Carlson came under fire from Republicans when he described the deadly riots on the US capitol on 6 January 2021 as “mostly peaceful chaos”.

In 2018 he said immigrants would make the US “poorer and dirtier”, prompting advertisers to cut ties with Tucker Carlson Tonight.

He defended the actions of Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who shot dead two Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020.

Carlson said Kenosha, the town where the shooting happened, had “devolved into anarchy” and added: “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?”.

He has made a string of derogatory comments about women, including telling writer Lauren Duca to go back to writing about thigh-high boots instead of politics, calling journalist Arianna Huffington a “pig” and labelling Britney Spears and Paris Hilton “the biggest white wh***s in America”.

His life before Fox News

Carlson was born in San Francisco in 1969 and began his journalism career as a fact-checker for a conservative journal before making the move to TV in 2000.

In his early years on-screen he was known for his signature bow tie, which he abandoned in 2006.

He represented the political right on CNN’s Crossfire from 2001 to 2004. When comedian and The Late Show host Jon Stewart was a guest in 2004, he lambasted the show and Carlson. Shortly after the show was cancelled.

Carlson went on to work for television networks PBS and MSNBC. He co-founded political news website The Daily Caller in 2010 and kept a stake in the company until 2020.

He joined Fox News as a contributor in 2009.

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