Two years after being abrupt fired from Fox News, Tucker Carlson has broken his silence about the sudden departure from the network that made him one of America’s most influential conservative voices.
“I got fired from Fox for saying things they didn’t like,” Carlson told The Daily Signal during an interview at The Heritage Foundation’s Annual Leadership Conference. “That’s all right, you know. It’s not my company.”
Carlson said he received the news via phone call on a Monday morning in late April 2023. He was abruptly replaced in his primetime 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time slot by Jesse Watters.
The conservative commentator said that throughout his tenure at Fox News, he always maintained a clear boundary regarding editorial control.
“I would always say to Fox, ‘I’m not going to take instruction. I mean, you hired me to get decent ratings, I’ve done that. If you don’t like what I say, you can take me off the air, but you’re not going to control my show, just fire me,'” Carlson said. “And that seemed like that had always been our deal.”
Despite his shocking and contentious exit, Carlson said he felt no lingering anger toward his former employer.
“I liked everyone I worked for, including the people who fired me,” he said.
Indeed, Fox News was not the first major network to fire Carlson. Before his more than two decades at Fox, Carlson worked at both CNN and MSNBC, joking that he was previously fired “once for low ratings [and] once for being kind of a lunatic.”
Since parting ways with Fox News, Carlson has built a substantial independent media presence. He launched his own company and created a YouTube channel that has attracted nearly 4 million subscribers. On this platform, he publishes multiple video interviews weekly, featuring guests ranging from convicted cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried to “The Chosen” actor Jonathan Roumie to Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
“I have varied interests, you know, but I’m interested in people,” Carlson explained.
While Carlson could have retired after his Fox News exit to pursue personal interests like trout fishing, bird hunting, and carpentry, he chose to remain in media because of his passion for conversation.
“I really love talking to people. I like learning—that sounds like B.S., but it’s actually fully sincere. And I love that more than I love money. I would do that for free,” he said.
Carlson also revealed that despite working in political commentary, he avoids traditional news sources entirely. “I don’t read any news content at all,” he said, explaining that he instead gets information directly from individuals via phone calls and text messages.
“I don’t read The New York Times. I don’t subscribe to The Washington Post. I don’t read Politico or any of that crap. It’s just garbage,” Carlson said. “I get almost 100% of my information from individuals on the phone or by text.”
Carlson said he focuses on a limited number of topics that interest him, particularly foreign policy, spiritual questions, the outdoors, and global power dynamics. “I’m interesting in spiritual questions. I’m interest in the outdoors, and I’m interested in the balance of power globally, and in war and preventing it. So, those are my interests.”
Fox News has not publicly commented on Carlson’s recent statements about his termination.