(StraightNews.org) — Fox News is accusing Tucker Carlson of breach of contract and has written to the controversial commentator warning of legal action. The threat comes on the heels of Mr. Carlson’s first broadcast of his new show, which more than 100 million viewers watched. Meanwhile, Fox viewing figures collapse. Soon after Carlson’s departure from the network, its following fell by around 50%.
Lawyers for Carlson say Fox News is interfering with his First Amendment rights in trying to prevent him from speaking. “Fox defends its very existence on freedom of speech grounds. 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,” attorney Brian Freedman said.
Fox’s attorneys say Carlson is still bound by a contractual clause ensuring that his services are utilized by Fox News only. The contract states that Carlson is “prohibited from rendering services of any type whatsoever, whether ‘over the internet via streaming or similar distribution, or other digital distribution whether now known or hereafter devised.” Sources however say that Carlson’s lawyers will argue that Twitter does not qualify under these terms as it does not compete with Fox.
Elon Musk, CEO of Twitter, confirmed there is no formal agreement with Carlson and he is streaming his show on the platform just as any other user can.
Tucker Carlson published his first independent commentary show, which was around 10 minutes long, on June 6th. He discussed the Ukraine war, UFOs, Jeffrey Epstein, and the September 11th attacks on America.
The popular pundit was fired from Fox News in April in circumstances still not made clear. Speculation suggests the network fired its most popular host because of his part in a settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, which cost Fox $787 million. Dominion, a company that produced vote-counting machines used in the 2020 Presidential election, sued the network for defamation over its coverage of allegations that the election was rigged.
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