Current:Home > My15 months after his firing, Tucker Carlson returns to Fox News airwaves with a GOP convention speech-DB Wealth Institute B2 Expert Reviews
15 months after his firing, Tucker Carlson returns to Fox News airwaves with a GOP convention speech
View Date:2024-12-23 16:34:12
NEW YORK (AP) — Tucker Carlson returned to Fox News’ airwaves 15 months after being unceremoniously fired, seen Thursday in its coverage of a Republican National Convention speech that highlighted his growing influence in Donald Trump’s world.
Carlson called the Republican nominee to return as president a changed man who effectively “became the leader of this nation” following last Saturday’s assassination attempt.
His 11-minute speech in Milwaukee also highlighted changes in the media personality, who had said privately following the 2020 election that he “truly can’t wait” to ignore Trump. Before being given the prime-time role on the convention’s climactic night, he’d been seen throughout the convention and reportedly lobbied Trump to select Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate.
Fox News aired Carlson’s speech in prime time, during the same hour he had once ruled as cable television news’ most popular personality. CNN and MSNBC did not carry it.
“That was Tucker Carlson,” his Fox replacement, Jesse Watters, said. “You may remember him from the 8 o’clock hour here.”
How Carlson has fared in recent months
Carlson was fired a week after Fox agreed to pay more than $787 million to settle a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems over false statements the network made about the company following the 2020 election. The network never explained why it ousted Carlson, sparking a cottage industry of theories about why the Rupert Murdoch-founded network pulled the plug.
Since then, Carlson started his own online network but hasn’t approached the influence that five nights a week on the most popular cable network afforded him.
He has released a series of online interviews with figures popular in the conservative movement, including one with Trump that was posted to counterprogram a debate between his GOP nomination opponents. His most newsworthy foray was a February interview with Russian president Vladimir Putin, who said later that he thought Carlson “would behave more aggressively and ask so-called sharp questions.”
Carlson has also made money through a series of speeches, and recently completed a speaking tour of Australia. He has booked a September tour of arenas in the United States, each night joined by a special guest that will include Donald Trump Jr., Roseanne Barr, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Russell Brand, Kid Rock, Vivek Ramaswamy and a trio of personalities who also left Fox under unpleasant circumstances — Megyn Kelly, Glenn Beck and Dan Bongino.
Rehearsal? Not on this night
What to know about the 2024 Election
- Read the latest: Follow AP’s live coverage of this year’s election.
- Democracy: American democracy has overcome big stress tests since 2020. More challenges lie ahead in 2024.
- AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more.
- Stay informed. Keep your pulse on the news with breaking news email alerts. Sign up here.
His convention speech on Thursday was ad-libbed, according to Justin Wells, a longtime Carlson adviser who spoke to him shortly before Carlson went onstage.
Carlson extolled Trump as a leader whose bravery and courage has inspired people — particularly in the days after the assassination attempt the former president survived in western Pennsylvania last weekend. He also credited Trump for fostering unity at a moment when it would have been easy to do otherwise.
“He turned down the most obvious opportunity in politics to inflame the nation after being shot,” Carlson said. “In the moment, he did his best to bring the country together.”
He said that “people who don’t believe in God are starting to wonder — maybe there is something to this.”
Carlson kept divisive political talk to a minimum, although he called the amount of money the U.S. has spent to help defend Ukraine “a middle finger in the face of every American.”
___
David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder
veryGood! (13)
Related
- Texas’ 90,000 DACA recipients can sign up for Affordable Care Act coverage — for now
- Search called off for small airplane that went missing in fog and rain over southeast Alaska
- USA TODAY Sports Network's Big Ten football preseason media poll
- US home sales fell in June to slowest pace since December amid rising mortgage rates, home prices
- Oprah Winfrey denies being paid $1M for Kamala Harris rally: 'I was not paid a dime'
- Here's what a Sam Altman-backed basic income experiment found
- To Help Stop Malaria’s Spread, CDC Researchers Create a Test to Find a Mosquito That Is Flourishing Thanks to Climate Change
- Russia says its fighter jets intercepted 2 U.S. strategic bombers in the Arctic
- What is best start in NBA history? Five teams ahead of Cavaliers' 13-0 record
- ‘We were built for this moment': Black women rally around Kamala Harris
Ranking
- Halle Berry Rocks Sheer Dress She Wore to 2002 Oscars 22 Years Later
- Video shows aftermath from train derailing, crashing into New York garage
- Here's what investors are saying about Biden dropping out — and what it means for your 401(k)
- The Bear Fans Spot Season 3 Editing Error About Richie's Marriage
- COINIXIAI Introduce
- Netflix plans documentary on Michigan Wolverines football sign-stealer
- Beach Volleyball’s Miles Evans Reveals What He Eats in a Day Ahead of Paris Olympics
- Love Island USA's Kendall Washington Addresses Leaked NSFW Video
Recommendation
-
Nicole Kidman Reveals the Surprising Reason for Starring in NSFW Movie Babygirl
-
Simone Biles' husband, Jonathan Owens, will get to watch Olympics team, all-around final
-
Plane crash kills two near EAA Airventure Oshkosh 2024 on first day
-
Israel's Netanyahu in Washington for high-stakes visit as death toll in Gaza war nears 40,000
-
Video shows Starlink satellite that resembled fireball breaking up over the Southwest: Watch
-
Here's what investors are saying about Biden dropping out — and what it means for your 401(k)
-
Missouri judge overturns wrongful murder conviction of man imprisoned for over 30 years
-
Iowa law banning most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy to take effect Monday