Prayer time, a lawsuit or the C-word? Tucker Carlson’s exit remains a mystery

The exact reason behind the rightwing TV host Tucker Carlson's abrupt firing from Fox News remains unclear, days after the star's show was suddenly cancelled.

The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported Carlson was fired after executives discovered vulgar text messages, including one in which he called a top executive the C-word. There were also concerns among Fox management that Carlson was acting as if he was above the network, the Journal reported.

The Los Angeles Times reported the firing was in connection to a lawsuit filed by Abby Grossberg, Carlson's former senior booking producer, who said she operated in a sexist and misogynistic working environment.

"We will vigorously defend Fox against all of her legal claims which have no merit," Fox said in a statement.

Vanity Fair reported that Rupert Murdoch was disturbed by Carlson's comments at a recent Heritage Foundation event urging people to find 10 minutes for prayer each day. "That stuff freaks Rupert out. He doesn't like all the spiritual talk," an anonymous source said.

Among those close to Carlson, there is skepticism that his exit was related to his use of vulgar text messages, the Guardian has learned. Instead, the thinking goes, the firing was related to the $787.5m settlement of a $1.6bn defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems over the broadcast of Donald Trump's lies about voter fraud in the 2020 election.

"An elderly Australian man fired his top anchor with no warning because he was so offended by a dirty word? Stupidest explanation ever. Please," a person close to Carlson said. "A big decision requires a powerful motive. Naughty words in text messages don't qualify."

A Dominion spokesperson said cancelling Carlson's show was not part of the settlement agreement. A Fox spokesperson also denied this, saying it was "categorically false".

"Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor," the network said in a statement on Monday.

Carlson has not publicly directly addressed his firing, releasing a Twitter video on Wednesday that did not directly address it.

Many of Carlson's text messages that came to light during the Dominion litigation disparaged Trump ("I hate him passionately," one said); Fox management ("Do the executives understand how much credibility and trust we've lost with our audience?'); and Sidney Powell, a lawyer and Trump ally who was a key figure spreading election lies on Fox ("Sidney Powell is lying, fucking bitch"). In another text message, he called Powell the C-word.

Carlson seized on xenophobic themes to become one of the most-watched news anchors in the Fox News lineup. In 2022, Carlson's show averaged 3 million viewers, trailing the afternoon show The Five, according to the Associated Press.

A rotating cast of personalities are now hosting Carlson's 8pm slot, Brian Kilmeade taking the helm this week. Ratings have sunk in the days since Carlson left.