Tucker Carlson Launches Twitter Show In Wake of Fox News Departure

It has been three weeks since the former Murdoch-controlled cable news personality suddenly parted ways with Fox. The world’s wealthiest innovator and Twitter CEO, Elon Musk, seemingly snatched him up with a spicy [but undisclosed] offer to exclusively produce content through the Bluebird platform.

Why Did Tucker Choose Twitter?

Right-leaning new media outlets have been fawning over Tucker since his capricious departure, or dismissal, from Fox News.

He’s attracted suitors from several prominent media brands including The Daily Wire, One America News, BlazeTV, Rumble, Newsmax, and Valuetainment.

Not every aforementioned organization extended a public invitation to Tucker, but each one expressed varying degrees of interest ranging from OANN CEO Robert Herring essentially saying “Please come, I’ll give you whatever you want” to Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy applauding him for fueling the “switch” away from pro-establishment media like Fox News to Newsmax but stopped short of an offer.

Valuetainment CEO Patrick Ben-David even offered Tucker a whopping 5-year, $100M offer to join his media company, which he refused.

Tucker remarked on his rationale for choosing Twitter in a 3-minute video posted on Tuesday,

"There aren't many platforms left that allow free speech. The last big one remaining in the world, the only one, is Twitter, where we are now. Twitter has long served as the place where our national conversation incubates and develops. Twitter is not a partisan site, everybody's allowed here, and we think that's a good thing."

Carlson concluded his talk by announcing that he will be airing a new incarnation of his show, which has been running for over half a decade, on the network.

He expressed his appreciation for being in the presence of others, and then went on to emphasize that the freedom of speech is the most fundamental of all rights. Without it, he suggested, no other rights could exist.

So, Tucker x Twitter Is A Done Deal?

Well, no. Not really.

On Tuesday evening, Elon Musk took to Twitter and made the point that no deal has been inked and that the same conditions of other content creators apply to Tucker.

On this platform, unlike the one-way street of broadcast, people are able to interact, critique and refute whatever is said. 

And, of course, anything misleading will get 
@CommunityNotes

I also want to be clear that we have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever. Tucker is subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators. 

Rewards means subscriptions and advertising revenue share (coming soon), which is a function of how many people subscribe and the advertising views associated with the content.

I hope that many others, particularly from the left, also choose to be content creators on this platform.

It’s relatively unclear as to whether Musk is playing coy or serious.

It’s hard to believe that Tucker would turn down several offers worth hundreds of millions of dollars to produce free content on Twitter.

Tucker is in the middle of a contract dispute with Fox News, and he is now suing the media company for breach of contract and fraud.

His legal team has declared the network violated terms and stated he is no longer bound by the non-compete clause.

There is no definitive ending in sight for this litigation, millions of dollars are on the line for Tucker right now, and the waters are choppy.

For this reason, it’s likely Musk would keep details of the deal under wraps until the dust settles.

Musk, Twitter = Beacon of Free Speech?

It’s debatable as to whether Twitter truly “embraces” free speech.

In November 2022, The Intercept published a report exposing the newly-Musk-owned Twitter silenced left-wing voices on the platform.

Several suspended users included antifascist researcher Chad Loder, video journalist Vishal Pratap Singh, and others who are avowedly “antifascist” in their political orientation.

This ain’t it.

The way to defeat bad ideas is with better ideas, not censorship.

While I disagree with the motivations, and conclusions, of most antifa purveyors, I do not think blanket banning is the right course of action.

This type of authoritarian overreach foments discord and, counterintuitively, fuels the Streisand Effect which amplifies quelled voices by giving them the moral high ground.

Censorship legitimizes bad ideas.

When Musk took over last fall, he approached journalist Matt Taibbi to raise awareness about alleged censorship led by left-wing operatives on Twitter under its previous ownership.

About a month ago, Twitter began limiting traffic to Substack, a newsletter platform where Taibbi primarily publishes his work, and reportedly hid his tweets from search results.

Ironically, Musk's chosen medium for exposing past censorship on Twitter was now facing censorship on Twitter itself.

While Musk called the garrote of Substack a mistake, Taibbi believed it was due to a dispute over the company's new service, similar to Twitter.

History seems to indicate that Musk-owned Twitter is not as free speech friendly at least to left-wing voices as most, including Tucker, assume.

Why Did Tucker Leave Fox Again?

On April 24, Fox News Media declared a dramatic change in its lineup when it declared that Tucker Carlson, their most-viewed host, was leaving.

This decision came shortly after Fox concluded a settlement for the defamation case against Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million, in which messages sent by Carlson and other Fox personalities were revealed after the 2020 election.

In a story published by The New York Times, it was disclosed that a redacted communication played a role in Fox's decision to no longer employ Carlson.

The text indicated that he had sent a producer a message about a video featuring a skirmish between a group of "Trump guys" and an "Antifa kid," where the anchor had written that "it's not how white men fight."

And, legal action has been taken against Carlson and Fox News by Abby Grossberg, a former producer who claims she experienced discrimination and hostility in her workplace.

Previously, Grossberg had been a producer for CBS News from 2011 to 2014 and CBS News Radio from 2005 to 2007.

In 2009, Carlson became part of the network as a contributor and then, from 2012 to 2016, he was a co-host of "Fox and Friends Weekend". Finally, November 2016 witnessed the start of "Tucker Carlson Tonight”

How will Tucker move forward with Twitter? Let’s wait and find out.

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