Tucker Carlson’s private messages and damaging lawsuits spark ‘crisis’ at Fox News

Overlapping accounts across multiple news outlets and a lawsuit from a former producer allege a wider picture of dysfunction at the network leading to the far-right star’s exit, Alex Woodward reports

(AP/Getty)

The abrupt firing of one of the most-watched and most-volatile far-right figureheads from American media came without a statement explaining why, exactly, Tucker Carlson and Fox News mutually “agreed to part ways,” as the network described it.

Hundreds of court filings and anonymously sourced reports from inside the network have stitched together a picture of a looming human resources nightmare inside the right-wing media behemoth, with a federal lawsuit from a now-former producer putting Carlson at the centre of allegations.

Overlapping accounts across multiple news outlets allege that the decision may have stemmed from Abby Grossberg’s lawsuit, a “crisis” surrounding redacted vulgar messages aimed at other Fox News employees, and Rupert Murdoch’s allegedly growing impatience with the host of the network’s most-watched programme, among other factors.

Ms Grossberg’s lawsuit, filed in US District Court in New York last month, alleges that Carlson’s “derogatory comments towards women, and his disdain for those who dare to object to such misogyny, is well known” on the set of his Tucker Carlson Tonight.

The claims in the lawsuit – as well as the arguments from Dominion Voting Systems in its blockbuster defamation case against the network over 2020 election lies – have depicted a much larger state of toxic dysfunction inside Fox News.

But a series of redacted messages discovered just days before what was set to become a closely watched defamation trial in Delaware allegedly sparked panic among Fox leadership that ultimately led to Carlson’s exit.

Private messages in legal filings reportedly include crude and offensive remarks from Carlson that, coupled with embarrassing behind-the-scenes revelations included with Dominion’s case against the company, prompted Fox leadership to take action, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal reported.

The Independent has requested comment from an attorney representing Carlson.

“Fox News Media and Tucker 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,” the network shared in a statement this week.

Attorneys for Dominion had planned to press the judge about using the messages in their questioning of Carlson on the witness stand. A last-minute settlement – after jurors had already been sworn in – averted a closely watched trial in Delaware Superior Court.

The settlement does not necessarily mean that the documents will remain off limits; The New York Times, The Associated Press and National Public Radio have challenged the redactions and argued for their public release.

The former producer’s lawsuit

Ms Grossberg’s complaint – which is filed against the Fox Corporation, Fox leadership, Carlson and his producers, among others – argues that her allegations join a pattern of abuse and gender-based retaliation at the company, with more than 10 pages outlining a legacy of “vivid examples of blatant sexual harassment and gender discrimination” from at least 2004.

The lawsuit alleges a litany of sexist remarks aimed at Fox News personality Maria Bartiromo from male colleagues (“crazy,” “menopausal,” “hysterical, “disgusting and difficult to manage”) and derogatory comments aimed at other women, including political figures and female colleagues.

Carlson producer Justin Wells hired Grossberg for Carlson’s programme in July 2022, and she officially began the role in September, according to the complaint. “She had merely traded in one overtly misogynistic work environment for an even crueler one – this time, one where unprofessionalism reigned supreme, and the staff’s distaste and disdain for women infiltrated almost every workday decision,” her lawsuit claims.

“No woman, whether she was a Republican politician or a female staffer at Fox News, was safe from suddenly becoming the target of sexist, demeaning comments, such as being called a ‘c***,’” her complaint states.

Wells also was fired this week.

On her first full day with Carlson’s programme, she was greeted “by many large and blown-up photographs of Nancy Pelosi in a plunging bathing suit revealing her cleavage” plastered on her computer and throughout the office, according to her lawsuit.

The complaint also alleges that, on the next day, a producer asked her if her former boss Bartiromo is “f****** Kevin McCarthy,” the current speaker of the House of Representatives.

One day later, another producer sent her a “series of harassing and unprofessional late-night emails” about a booking decision on the programme. Wells and another producer allegedly brushed her complaints aside.

Staff at Tucker Carlson Tonight “frequently engaged in group discussions” during which “misogynistic views of women as objects to be judged solely based on their appearance were broadcasted” and often within earshot of other female staffers,” the lawsuit claims.

“In these discussions, no woman, whether she was a Republican politician or a female staffer at Fox News, was safe from suddenly becoming the target of sexist, demeaning comments, such as being called a ‘c***,’” according to Ms Grossberg’s complaint.

In October, an alleged newsroom discussion took place over whether Michigan gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon or Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer was “hotter and more f*******.”

A statement from Fox News to The Independent following Ms Grossberg’s lawsuit said the company “engaged an independent outside counsel to immediately investigate the concerns raised by Ms Grossberg, which were made following a critical performance review.”

Ms Grossberg, who was fired shortly after filing the complaint, said during an appearance on MSNBC this week that Carlson’s sudden termination left her with mixed emotions.

“There were feelings first of ‘Yes!’ and then also the reality that you don’t want anything bad to happen to anybody,” Ms Grossberg said. “But at the same time, Tucker and his executive producer, Justin Wells, who was also fired, really were responsible for breaking me and making my life a living hell. So there is a feeling of justice, but it’s only partial.”

The lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems

The claims in Ms Grossberg’s lawsuit cover a period that came months after the messages in Dominion’s case, which includes texts and emails from Fox leadership, producers and network stars privately acknowledging that on-air segments validating 2020 election conspiracy theories are bogus despite being uncritically aired on the network.

In Carlson’s case, he privately ridiculed and insulted guests on the network who advanced false claims about Dominion, including Donald Trump, while providing a massive platform for his allies’ spurious attempts to overturn election results.

In one message, Carlson calls election conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell a “f****** b****”.

Last year, when she sat for a deposition in the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit, a lawyer for Dominion showed Ms Grossberg the message.

When asked how she felt about that language or if she heard that language from Carlson, Ms Grossberg said she had only just started working for his programme and declined to speculate how she would react, according to her complaint.

The day after her deposition, on 14 September, 2022, an email was sent to the Tucker Carlson Tonight staff in recognition of “Abby Day” for defending the host.

Wells later confirmed that he was the person who received Carlson’s message, according to her complaint.

On 19 November, 2021, Carlson ended his broadcast by saying that “maybe Sidney Powell will come forward soon with details on exactly how this happened, and precisely who did it. We are certainly hopeful that she will.”

He later shared a tweet from now-former Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich “fact checking” one of Donald Trump’s tweets baselessly alleging voter fraud; she correctly stated that “there is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”

Carlson tried to get her fired.

“Please get her fired,” Carlson wrote. “Seriously … What the f****? actually shocked … It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.”

On 6 January, 2021, following a violent revolt at the US Capitol fuelled by the fraudulent election narrative, Carlson wrote in a message to his producer that Donald Trump is “a demonic force, a destroyer. But he’s not going to destroy us.” Later than month, Carlson invited prolific election fraud conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell on his broadcast.