On the eve of Fox's billion-dollar defamation trial, Tucker Carlson shared his private, inflammatory views about violence and race in a text message that sparked panic. A series of occurrences culminated in Carlson's dismissal after the message was discovered.
In the message, shipped off one of his makers in the hours after Trump allies raged the Legislative hall on January 6, 2021, Carlson depicted how he had as of late watched a video of a gathering of men - Trump allies, he said - fiercely going after "an Antifa kid."
He wrote that it was "three against one, at least." He then expressed surprise that the attackers were white, like him. "White men fight in a different way," he stated. However, he claimed that there was a brief moment when he wanted the group to kill the "Antifa kid."
On his show, Carlson promoted viewpoints that emphasized the ideology of white nationalism for many years. The Fox board was alarmed when they read the text one day before Fox was scheduled to present its case against Dominion Voting Systems to a jury. The board became concerned that the message might be made public during Carlson's testimony at the trial, resulting in a sensational and damaging incident that would bring up more general questions about the business.
The board informed Fox executives the day after the discovery that an outside law firm would be hired to look into Carlson's actions.
The text added to Carlson's growing list of internal issues, which led the company to believe that he was more of a problem than a benefit. In different messages he had alluded to ladies - including a senior leader - in unrefined and sexist terms. The text is essential for redacted court filings which were already unreported.
The messages that Carlson sent were gathered as part of the defamation suit that Dominion had filed against Fox, claiming that the network had knowingly broadcast lies about election fraud. Numerous messages were made public. Others, however, remain redacted, including the one between Carlson and one of his producers shortly after January 6, 2021.
In that text, Carlson portrayed his own feelings as he watched the video of the savage conflict, which he said occurred in Washington. Carlson didn't say what race the man who was attacked was. He wrote, "I found myself supporting the mob against the man, hoping they'd hit him harder and kill him." Then an alarm went off somewhere in my brain: I'm turning into a person I don't want to be. "Somebody probably loves this kid, and would be crushed if he was killed.... If I don't care, if I reduce people to their politics, how am I better than he is?" he wrote, after all.
Fox's board of directors only learned about the text a month ago, on the Sunday before the trial was scheduled to begin. Other than a statement in which they stated that they "agreed to part ways" and thanked "him for his service," Fox has not provided any additional information regarding Carlson's dismissal.