Tucker Carlson is leaving Fox Information, in an abrupt shake-up for Rupert Murdoch’s tv community simply days after it agreed to settle a defamation lawsuit over accusations it aired false theories about US election fraud.

The 2 sides “have agreed to half methods”, Fox mentioned in a short assertion on Monday, sending shockwaves throughout US media circles. “We thank him for his service to the community as a number and previous to that as a contributor.”

The press launch didn’t embody any remark from Carlson nor any recognition of his standing as one of many community’s hottest personalities. His present scheduled for Monday evening will happen with out him.

Carlson ended his broadcast on Friday with no indication that it might be his final for Fox. “We’ll be again on Monday, within the meantime have the very best weekend,” he informed viewers.

Carlson is among the many most-watched personalities in all of US tv, drawing greater than 3mn viewers to his present, Tucker Carlson Tonight.

Fox Information and its proprietor Fox Corp had been sued by voting-machine firm Dominion over on-air statements falsely accusing the producer of rigging its units to award votes to president Joe Biden, of paying bribes to election officers, and of working for the late Venezuelan chief Hugo Chávez.

Pre-trial filings within the litigation revealed some situations through which Carlson criticised Fox’s administration, specifically for calling the state of Arizona for Biden through the 2020 election, which led hardline supporters of Donald Trump to flee to rival networks.

Carlson texted his producer in early November 2020: “Do the executives perceive how a lot credibility and belief we’ve misplaced with our viewers? We’re enjoying with hearth, for actual . . . an alternate like Newsmax might be devastating to us,” in accordance with the filings.

Fox has agreed to pay $787.5mn, nearly half of the $1.6bn in damages sought by Dominion, to resolve that case, in one of many greatest defamation awards in US historical past.

Regardless of his sworn deposition revealing that Carlson grew to detest Trump and that he had misgivings about his colleague’s programmes, the primetime host’s present was not a serious a part of Dominion’s defamation case. Simply one of many 20 statements at problem in that lawsuit had been made on Carlson’s programme, with the others principally made by less-prominent figures comparable to Maria Bartiromo and Lou Dobbs.

Nonetheless, Carlson is being sued individually in a case introduced in New York by former Fox staffer Abby Grossberg, which alleges widespread discrimination on the community. She has claimed “Carlson’s derogatory feedback in the direction of ladies, and his disdain for individuals who dare to object to such misogyny, is well-known on the set” of his present.

Shares in Fox fell greater than 4 per cent after the information of Carlson’s exit.

Solely minutes after the information of Carlson’s exit from Fox, rival CNN introduced the departure of considered one of its best-known anchors, Don Lemon. “CNN and Don have parted methods,” the corporate mentioned.

Lemon mentioned he was “surprised”. “After 17 years at CNN I might have thought that somebody in administration would have had the decency to inform me straight”, he wrote on Twitter. He had come beneath strain not too long ago for making sexist feedback about Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley.