Tucker Carlson’s vulgar language in texts contributed to Fox News firing - report

Tucker Carlson's firing from Fox News came after he used vulgar language to describe a network executive, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Carlson described a senior Fox News executive as a C-word in a text message obtained by lawyers as part of a defamation lawsuit between the network and Dominion Voting Systems, according to the Journal, which like Fox is part of the Murdoch media empire.

In a case settled last week for $787.5m, Fox lawyers reportedly convinced the Delaware judge to redact the message from public filings. Carlson, however, was still reportedly furious the network was not doing enough to protect him.

Other messages in which he called the Donald Trump adviser and attorney Sidney Powell attorney a C-word and a "bitch" were made public as part of the lawsuit.

The primetime host's internal messages were among the most embarrassing for Fox, as he said he "passionately hated" Trump, called for a colleague to be fired for accurately fact-checking claims about voting machines, and bluntly criticized Powell.

More embarrassing information about Carlson may yet come to light. Rolling Stone reported on Tuesday that the network has a dossier of damaging information about him.

The thrust of Dominion's defamation claims involved other anchors: Maria Bartiromo, Jeanine Pirro and Lou Dobbs. Dobbs's show was cancelled in 2021 but Bartiromo and Pirro remain.