This week, a self-described media watchdog began posting a series of behind-the-scenes clips of the fired Fox News host using salty language in back-and-forth banter with producers, makeup artists and other staff. The leaks come as rumors continue to swirl over what caused the number one-rated US cable news host to lose his job.
Fox has sent Media Matters for America a cease-and-desist letter demanding the Washington-headquartered company halt the publication of a series of leaked clips dubbed the ‘Tucker Carlson Tapes.’
The letter, sent to Media Matters’ President Angelo Carusone by an attorney on behalf of Fox Corporation, warned the footage was obtained “without Fox’s authorization,” and that it is “confidential intellectual property” belonging to the network.
“Fox did not consent to its distribution or publication; and Fox does not consent to its further distribution or publication…Fox demands that Media Matters cease and desist from distribution, publication and misuse of Fox’s misappropriated proprietary footage, which you are now on notice was unlawfully obtained. We reserve all rights and remedies,” the letter said.
Media Matters responded with a tweet accusing Fox of “attempt[ing] to silence free speech.”
“Reporting on newsworthy leaked material is a cornerstone of journalism. For Fox to argue otherwise is absurd and further dispels any pretense that they’re a news organization. Perhaps if I tell them that the footage came from a combination of WikiLeaks and Hunter Biden’s laptop, it will alleviate their concerns,” Carusone was quoted as saying.
The “proprietary footage” referred to in the lawyer’s letter includes a series of clips of Carlson casually chatting and joking with staff from his “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and “Carlson Today” programs, including a comment in which he asked a makeup woman whether “pillow fights ever break out” in women’s restrooms, a remark to another anchor about “sexual technique,” and a characterization of a lawyer representing the Dominion voting machine company as a “slimy little mother******.”
In another of the videos, Tucker complained about the Fox Nation streaming service, suggesting that “nobody watches Fox Nation because the site sucks,” adding the platform “doesn’t work” properly. The former Fox host also wished he could just “dump the whole thing on YouTube” instead of putting content on Fox’s proprietary website. Tucker was part of various projects for the streaming platform, including for ‘originals’ such as “Patriot Purge” and “The End of Men.”
The Media Matters leaks come on the heels of the separate leak of a private text message in which the former Fox News host expressed revulsion over a video he saw showing the beating of an Antifa activist by MAGA supporters, and suggested that “jumping a guy like that is dishonorable” and “not how white men fight.” The text was picked apart by liberal media, with some outlets implying the text may have had something to do with Tucker’s firing.
Others argued the leaks may have come from within Fox itself in an attempt to smear Carlson, but backfired due to the content’s largely bland nature.
Carlson lost his job at Fox and his highly-rated prime time tv show just last week without an explanation from the host or his former employer, a feat that widely left media to speculate on the ouster.
This week, it was reported Fox chair Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan spoke with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky by phone several weeks before Carlson’s dismissal.
Carlson was the most outspoken critic on American television of the NATO proxy war in Ukraine, and also consistently criticized other conflicts involving the United States – from the CIA dirty war in Syria, US attempts to institute regime change in Venezuela, and to efforts to start wars with Iran and China. In January 2020, it was reported Carlson may have influenced former US President Donald Trump’s decision not to escalate then-white-hot tensions with Iran into a full-blown war. Anonymous Pentagon officials expressed joy over his ouster last week.
Fox News’ ratings have cratered in the aftermath of Carlson’s departure, with MSNBC topping the conservative media outlet’s prime-time ratings for the first time in years; however, Fox News has remained the most-watched cable news network overall.
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