Fox News said it has “agreed to part ways” with Tucker Carlson, its popular and controversial host, less than a week after settling a lawsuit over the network’s 2020 US election reporting.
The network said in a press release that the last programme of Tucker Carlson Tonight aired on Friday.
“We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” the press release from the network said.
Carlson became Fox’s most popular personality after replacing Bill O’Reilly in Fox’s prime-time line-up in 2016.
He has also consistently drawn headlines for controversial coverage, including most recently airing tapes from the January 6 Capitol insurrection to minimise the impact of the deadly attack.
There was no immediate explanation from Fox about why Carlson was leaving.
His name came up during the recently settled case with Dominion Voting Systems, primarily because of email and text messages that were revealed as part of the lawsuit.
In some of them, Carlson privately criticised former president Donald Trump, saying he hated him passionately.
A few weeks ago, Carlson devoted his entire show to an interview with Mr Trump.
Fox News Tonight will air in Carlson’s 8pm ET prime-time slot, hosted by a rotating array of network personalities, for the time being.
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