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Former FOX News Tonight host Tucker Carlson is scheduled to host a Republican presidential primary forum this week, the conservative news outlet Blaze Media announced in a tweet shared on Monday (July 10).
"Blaze Media is teaming up with THE FAMiLY LEADER to bring you the first presidential forum of the 2024 Republican Primary season, hosted by Tucker Carlson. We’ll be live streaming this event all day Friday, July 14th on BlazeTV and the BlazeTV YouTube channel," the tweet stated.
The forum will feature five Republican presidential candidates including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and former Vice President Mike Pence. Former President Donald Trump, who has teased foregoing debates due to his reported double-digit lead for the nomination in several polls, will not participate in the event.
Carlson, who currently hosts a show on Twitter, was reported to have "agreed to part ways" with FOX News in a news release shared by the network and obtained by Mediaite.com on April 24.
"We thank him for his service to the network as host and prior to that as a contributor."
Carlson's tenure as host of FOX News Tonight concluded April 21 live broadcast. The announcement came days after FOX News Media reached a $787.5 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems over its personalities amplifying Trump's false voter fraud claims during the 2020 election.
Text messages released through the Dominion lawsuit revealed that Carlson, who had publicly supported Trump on FOX News Tonight throughout his presidency and during his voter fraud claims, texted an unknown recipient, "I hate him passionately," when referring to Trump on January 4, 2021, two days before the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Several leaked behind-the-scenes videos of Carlson have also been publicly following his termination.
Carlson was cable news' highest-rated prime time host, with FOX News Tonight averaging 3 million viewers per night. The conservative political commentator joined FOX News in 2009, having previously contributed to CNN (2000-05), PBS (2004-05) and MSNBC (2005-08).
FOX News Media reportedly sent Carlson a "cease and desist" letter as he continues the launch of his new Twitter series, according his attorney, Harmeet K. Dhillon.
"My friend and client @TuckerCarlson will not be silenced — by the far left or by Fox News. Scoop: Fox sends Tucker Carlson cease-and-desist letter," Dhillon tweeted in response to Axios' initial report on the cease-and-desist letter.
Carlson's new, competing program, Tucker on Twitter, was reported to have drawn a combined 169 million views during its first two episodes. Carlson is still being paid by FOX News Media, which claims his contract should be kept exclusively to the company through December 31, 2024, despite his termination and the competing series "is in breach."
The host argues that his straight-to-camera monologue Twitter series is within his First Amendment right.