Shake-up in scandal-ridden cable news: Fox Tuckered-out; CNN soured on Lemon


The following is a news analysis.

  • Two of the biggest names in opinion at their respective right- and left-leaning cable news networks are out.
  • Lemon: “I am stunned.”

Tucker Carlson has left Fox News after six-and-a-half years. And the controversial CNN host Don Lemon has left the network after 17 years.

Both CNN and Fox News announced the departures Monday, on the same day.

Carlson regularly interviewed off-narrative guests and gave attention to off-narrative topics. He frequently focused on controversies including subjects such as violence committed by transgenders and the debate over males competing on female teams; voter fraud; government misconduct; government waste, fraud and abuse; government actions against parents speaking out about education; alleged corruption surrounding Hunter and President Biden; and Ukraine funding.

Recently, Carlson and his team were given exclusive access to government-recorded videos of the January 6, 2021 pro-Trump intrusions at the US Capitol. He promised a lengthy series of exposes but after the first night, there were calls by Democrat and Republican political leaders to stop his reporting, and no further videos aired.

On April 20, Democrat Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. announced his run for president in 2024 on Carlson’s program.

Tucker has reportedly faced opposition from inside his own network from left-learning or pro-establishment managers since he began his program in 2016.

Lemon has previously survived numerous controversies, including a civil sexual assault accusation from a man who says he interacted with Lemon at a restaurant and bar. More recently, Lemon has drawn criticism from observers– including some who are left-leaning– who say his remarks and behavior are, at times, racist and sexist. Lemon has denied any wrongdoing, but has tacitly apologized for misunderstandings or hurt feelings.

Lemon issued a statement from his Twitter account reading.

I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned. After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network. It is clear there are some larger issues at play.

Don Lemon, former CNN host

As of this publication, there is no word on where the two cable media stars may land.

Conservative commentator Dan Bongino announced his departure from Fox News last week.

Some have linked the Fox departures to a Fox News settlement of a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion sued Fox for defamation saying that the news outlet’s reporting on 2020 voter fraud questions wrongly pointed the finger at Dominion voting machines. Fox reportedly agreed to pay Dominion $787 million to settle the case.

In 2020, CNN settled a defamation suit filed by a student, Nicholas Sandmann. Sandmann says the network defamed him in their unfair reporting that wrongly portrayed him, then a high-school student, as an aggressor in a videotaped incident outside the US Supreme Court. He had sought $275 million in damages. The Washington Post also settled with Sandmann.

Last December, CNN fired another of its anti-Trump stars: Chris Cuomo. That after it was revealed that he advised his brother, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, about sexual harassment allegations against Andrew that ultimately forced his resignation from the governor’s office.

In my book, Slanted: How the news media taught us to love censorship and hate journalism, former CNN executive Rick Kaplan (who also led news divisions or departments at CBS, ABC, and MSNBC) predicted that if Trump lost the 2020 re-election, it would lead to a major shake-up at CNN, which had relied almost solely on anti-Trump news to gain viewership.

CNN news chief Jeff Zucker was forced out of CNN in February of 2022 after a consensual affair with a co-worker was made public. Former CBS and ABC executive Chris Licht was hired to take over CNN. Analysts say he has struggled, so far, to develop a ratings-winning game plan for the beleaguered network.

Last August, CNN ended its media analysis program, Reliable Sources, and fired its anti-Trump host Brian Stelter. Stelter’s reporting was long allied with the left-leaning propaganda group Media Matters and its pharmaceutical interests. He was frequently criticized for pushing out disinformation, which he denied.

Read Lemon’s full statement below:

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16 thoughts on “Shake-up in scandal-ridden cable news: Fox Tuckered-out; CNN soured on Lemon”

    1. If the owners of Fox fired Tucker because he aired stories which exposed leftist influence, what information isn’t being reported by the remaining personalities so they aren’t terminated? I’d include O’Reilly in your list also Tami.

    2. I completely agree – I was thinking Sharyl, Glenn Greenwald, Tucker Carlson, Bari Weiss and some of her Free Press writers, Megyn Kelly, Glenn Beck and others…

  1. The most-plausible explanation I’ve read so far concerning Tucker Carlson’s firing was provided in a tweet by Robert F. Kennedy Jr:

    “Fox fires @TuckerCarlson five days after he crosses the red line by acknowledging that the TV networks pushed a deadly and ineffective vaccine to please their Pharma advertisers. Carlson’s breathtakingly courageous April 19 monologue broke TV’s two biggest rules: Tucker told the truth about how greedy Pharma advertisers controlled TV news content and he lambasted obsequious newscasters for promoting jabs they knew to be lethal and worthless. For many years, Tucker has had the nation’s biggest audience averaging 3.5 million — 10 times the size of CNN. Fox just demonstrated the terrifying power of Big Pharma”

    To me that makes sense, because Carlson wasn’t the biggest offender at Fox from Dominion’s point of view, but he probably WAS the biggest offender at Fox from Big Pharma’s point of view, and Fox sacrificing Carlson could be viewed as killing two birds with one stone — placating Dominion AND Big Pharma.

    At any rate it’s a certainty that Carlson will come roaring back in some venue, and with the right backing could even start his own news network and turn Fox into a second-rate cable news operation, same as Trump could start his own political party and turn the republican party into a third party.

    1. Thank you for sharing this. I think Rbt. Kennedy is spot on with his assessment. This is what happens when you don’t bow to Pharma, as we are seeing every single day. Frightening.

    2. Thank you for sharing. Sounds plausible. I would add that his airing of the Jan 6 videos and the reaction from the political elitists from both sides of the aisle weighed in on this decision. This also revealed dishonesty at the joghest levels of government. The coverage of the Twitter investigation revealed the collusion of Democrats with social media to influence an election- another sacred cow. And lastly, his skepticism of our involvement in Ukraine was inevitably leading to exposure of corruption at the highest levels of government.

    3. This would not surprise me. Count up all the drug commercials that get run on Fox. They probably threatened to pull all of their advertising. That’s how they work these days. How dare you say “no” to one of their “drugs”? They just get the gubmint to force it on you.

  2. Sharylattkisson .. Much respect. Always on your side from Twitter days until the present. Every other media is being banned. Just you and us … Stay strong and thanks for all you do…

  3. We could use a network willing to have both of them on the same show, giving the viewer a chance to hear different opinions and rationale. They do it in sports. Why not the same for matters of greater importance! Is any network out there listening?

    1. You could add calling Nicky Halli “past her prime” pretty sexist. What about the octogenarians Biden and Trump?

      No one mentions the nearly $800mm FOX has to pay due to Tucker and others lying about the steal due to Dominion. I guess they didn’t read about how the FOX talking heads pushed that lie for their personal profit. But taking on Big Pharma was the nail in Tucker’s coffin. There will be others for all the lying concerning Dominion and there are a few more suits to go!

  4. Hmmmm, Don Lem’on started on CNN 17 years ago!!!
    Wasn’t that about the time CNN no longer became the “Most Trusted Name in News”!
    I recall all the Intel shops had CNN showing on big TVs back in the mid 2000’s! When I left that community in 2006 the Intel community was gather info from other sources.

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