(Photo by Janos Kummer/Getty Images)
OAN’s Geraldyn Berry
3:34 PM – Monday, June 12, 2023
Fox News has reportedly issued a cease-and-desist letter to Tucker Carlson, alleging that the Conservative network’s former star host breached his contract by launching a new show on Twitter, according to Axios.
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The contract, signed in November 2019 and amended in February 2021, limits Carlson’s ability to appear on other media outlets or news networks.
The cease-and-desist letter from Fox News was criticized by a lawyer for Carlson, Harmeet Dhillon.
“Fox News continues to ignore the interests of its viewers, not to mention its shareholder obligations,” Dhillon said in a statement. “Doubling down on the most catastrophic programming decision in the history of the cable news industry, Fox is now demanding that Tucker Carlson be silent until after the 2024 election.”
Another one of Carlson’s attorneys, Bryan Freedman, maintained that any legal action by Fox News would violate the notable television personality’s First Amendment rights.
“Fox defends its very existence on freedom of speech grounds,” Freedman said. “Now they want to take Tucker Carlson’s right to speak freely away from him because he took to social media to share his thoughts on current events.”
Fox Networks had claimed that the newscaster is said to be looking for a way out of a $20 million per year contract with the company.
On the other hand, Carlson’s lawyers have also argued that the network breached their contract by suddenly canceling his show without notice — and it is therefore null and void.
On April 23rd, Fox News had announced that they were parting ways with its long-time host days after the network had settled its case with Dominion Voting System.
Despite this, Fox continues to pay Carlson, and has stated that the former host’s contract keeps his content exclusive to Fox through December 31st, 2024.
Last week, Carlson delivered the first two episodes of his highly anticipated 10-minute Twitter program.
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