Topline
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson posted the first episode of his new Twitter show Tuesday, taking to the social media platform to discuss the Ukraine war and UFOs—just a little more than a month after the controversial pundit’s turbulent departure from Fox.
Key Facts
Carlson did not mention Fox News at any point during the more than 10-minute show—a topic he has not addressed since late April—but obliquely criticized the media.
Carlson said he was “grateful” to be on Twitter, adding he and his team were told there were no “gatekeepers” on the platform but they would leave if “that turns out to be false.”
The video was shorter and less adorned than Carlson’s previous nightly cable news show—it featured few on-screen graphics and largely consisted of a monologue in which Carlson criticized familiar targets ranging from Black Lives Matter protesters to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
The commentator talked about the Kakhovka dam collapse in Ukraine, claiming the Ukrainian military blew up the dam but offering no conclusive evidence on who or what caused the collapse (Ukrainian and NATO officials say Russia exploded the dam, but Russian officials have blamed Ukraine).
UFOs were also on the agenda for Carlson, who cited a still-uncorroborated report claiming U.S. officials found “craft of non-human origin,” and Carlson asked at one point “what exactly happened on 9/11?” without elaborating.
Tangent
Billionaire Twitter owner Elon Musk quote tweeted Carlon’s show, saying, “Would be great to have shows from all parts of the political spectrum on this platform!” Musk—who bought Twitter last year—said last month that Twitter and Carlson have not signed a deal for the show, but noted that the host could potentially receive some subscription and advertising revenue-sharing.
Big Number
12.8 million. That is how many views the first episode of Carlson’s show racked up two and a half hours after being posted, according to Twitter’s public metrics.
Key Background
Carlson abruptly left Fox News in late April, after helming one of the network’s highest-rated shows for several years. The precise reason for Carlson’s ouster was never explained, but it followed an increasing number of issues between him and the company and a series of contentious remarks by Carlson. The turbulence was capped off by the discovery of controversial text messages sent by Carlson, which were unearthed in a defamation suit against Fox by Dominion Voting Systems that the network settled for a whopping $787.5 million. In one text, Carlson called a Fox executive the c-word, a comment that fueled Fox’s decision to part ways with him, the Wall Street Journal reported. In another 2021 message to a producer, Carlson commented on a video of a group of men attacking “an Antifa kid” and wrote, “It’s not how white men fight,” the New York Times reported. The text drew backlash from critics like Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who tweeted it was not news that Carlson was a white nationalist.
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