Brian Kilmeade.Photo: Roy Rochlin/Getty Images
Thebombshell announcementthatTucker Carlsonhas left Fox News was only briefly acknowledged during his now-former show Monday, withBrian Kilmeade— who is occupying Carlson’s chair this week — devoting just a few seconds to the news while on-air.
“As you probably have heard, Fox News and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” Kilmeade said onFox News Tonight. “I wish Tucker the best. I’m great friends with Tucker and always will be.”
In a statement on Monday morning, Fox News said the network and Carlson “have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”
Carlson, 53, was featured prominently in the network’s recent legal battle with voting company Dominion, though it’s unclear if that could have played a role in his exit.
In one of the exchanges made public, Carlson texts a colleague: “We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can’t wait.”
“I hate him passionately,” Carlson added.
In another exchange made public in March, Carlson wrote: “We’re all pretending we’ve got a lot to show for it, because admitting what a disaster it’s been is too tough to digest. But come on. There really isn’t an upside to Trump.”
Carlson’s text messages are among a large tranche of private conversations and under-oath testimony from executives and hosts at Fox News, which Dominion argued in its complaint “sold a false story of election fraud in order to serve its own commercial purposes, severely injuring Dominion in the process.”
Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Fox argued, in a counterclaim, that Dominion “mischaracterized the record” and “cherry-picked quotes stripped of key context.”
source: people.com
