Tucker Carlson had a busy Tuesday. In addition to announcing that he plans to bring a new version of his show to Twitter, he accused his former network, Fox News, of fraud and breach of contract.
Carlson announced the Twitter plans himself on the social media platform Tuesday evening, and Axios broke the news about the claims against Fox.
In a statement issued late last month, Fox said it had mutually parted ways with Carlson after more than a decade. He was the network’s most watched host.
While Fox did not elaborate on why it was parting ways with Carlson, he has been in the headlines in recent moths for texts. Some of the texts were revealed through the Dominion lawsuit and in others Carlson appeared to make racist remarks.
A Fox News spokesperson said it is “categorically false” that Carlson lost his job as part of the network's $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, according to Axios. Stephen Shackelford, an outside attorney for Dominion, also told the outlet’s Dan Primack: “Dominion did not insist on them firing Tucker Carlson as part of the settlement.”
However, “Carlson was told by a member of the Fox board that he was taken off the air as part of the Dominion settlement, two sources briefed on a conversation told Axios.”
Earlier this week, Axios reported that Carlson was ready to “torch” his former network, which has struggled with ratings since they parted ways. It said that his contract runs through 2025 and that Fox intends to continue paying him $20 million annually until it is over, preventing him from working.
Therefore, the Twitter announcement would appear to violate his contract. His legal team contends that Fox breached Carlson’s contract first.
According to Axios, an “aggressive letter” from Carlson’s attorneys argues “that the noncompete provision in his contract is no longer valid – freeing him to launch his own competing show or media enterprise.”
Sources told the outlet that the letter was sent before Carlson’s Twitter announcement. A source “familiar with Carlson’s position,” said that his lawyers believe misrepresentations alleged by Carlson “amount to a breach of contract because they created additional terms of Carlson’s employment that were then broken by the company.”
“These actions not only breached the covenant of good faith and fair dealing in the Agreement, but give rise to claims for breach of contract, and intentional and negligent misrepresentation,” the letter said.
Carlson also claimed that Irena Briganti, Fox’s communications and PR chief also breached his contract with attempts to undermine his business prospects. His team plans to subpoena Briganti, according to the letter.
Since Carlson is considering litigation against Fox, his lawyers said the company should “preserve all existing documents and data” relevant to Carlson, Axios reported.
Bryan Freedman, Carlson’s attorney, said “the idea that anyone is going to silence Tucker and prevent him from speaking to his audience is beyond preposterous.”
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