Topline
Fox News anchor Jesse Watters will take over Tucker Carlson’s 8 p.m. prime-time slot, the right-wing network announced on Monday, after Carlson, the network’s former highest-rated prime-time host, abruptly left the network and launched a show on Twitter.
Fox News anchor Jesse Watters will take over the network’s prime-time slot in July.
Key Facts
Watters joined Fox News as a correspondent for Bill O’Reilly and came into the national spotlight as one of the hosts on Fox’s afternoon roundtable The Five and with his own one-hour show, Jesse Watters Primetime, which aired at 7 p.m.
Jesse Watters Primetime will shift to 8 p.m. on July 17, following host Laura Ingraham’s The Ingraham Angle at 7 p.m., and followed up by Sean Hannity at 9 p.m. and Greg Gutfeld at 10 p.m.
The move comes just over two months after Carlson—a controversial anchor with a massive following who had repeatedly peddled misinformation about former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election interference claims—was booted from the network, prompting Carlson to launch a rebranded version of his prime-time show on Twitter.
Producers and staff members who had worked on Tucker Carlson Tonight were reportedly cut from the network on Tuesday, according to Washington Post reporter Sarah Ellison (Forbes has reached out to Fox News for comment).
Big Number
2.6 million. That’s how many viewers Jesse Watters Primetime has averaged per episode so far this year in the 7 p.m. time slot, including 270,000 viewers in the critical 25 to 54 demographic, making it the highest-ever-rated 7 p.m. cable news show, according to the network.
Key Background
Fox’s announcement in April that it had released Carlson came as a shock to both viewers and Carlson himself, who was notified of his termination after he taped what became his final show on Fox and had concluded that episode with an unsuspecting: “We’ll be back Monday.” Though it was initially unclear why Fox would let go of its highest-rated host, multiple reports later indicated the decision was related to Carlson’s angry rants about Fox Corp. management that came to light in court documents during Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation suit against the network—which Fox settled in April for $787.5 million. The Los Angeles Times reported, citing sources, that Fox Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch pushed Carlson out over a separate discrimination lawsuit from a former network producer who claimed that she was subjected to a toxic atmosphere of sexism and antisemitism behind the scenes on Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Tangent
Carlson launched a rebranded version of his primetime show on Twitter earlier this month, posting a 10-minute Tucker on Twitter episode discussing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and UFOs, and refusing to mention his former employer. One week later, however, Fox News reportedly sent Carlson a cease-and-desist letter, arguing Carlson violated his contract with the network by publishing content elsewhere.
Further Reading
Tucker Carlson Suddenly Out At Fox News (Forbes)
Tucker Carlson Launches New Twitter Show Weeks After Fox News Ouster—And Talks Ukraine And UFOs (Forbes)
