Two controversial news anchors at competing cable networks are out of jobs.
Fox News announced Monday it has severed ties with race-baiting and MAGA supporter Tucker Carlson just one week after the network settled a defamation suit for $787.5 million in part because Carlson joined others in promoting the “Big Lie” that included claims that Dominion voting machines were fraudulent.
Dominion had alleged that statements made on Carlson’s show after the 2020 election were defamatory.
The company claimed that messages between Carlson and his team were proof that they knew claims Dominion’s ballot-counting machines were used to manipulate the presidential election in favor of Democrat Joe Biden were false.
“We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” Fox News said in a statement Monday.
The company did not offer an explanation for Carlson’s departure.
At CNN, Don Lemon tweeted Monday that he was “stunned” by the network’s decision to fire him, which he said he was informed of by his agent.
“I am stunned,” Lemon wrote. “After 17 years at CNN I would have thought someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly.”
Lemon’s termination comes during a year in which the longtime anchor and host repeatedly ran into controversy.
In February, Lemon startled viewers and co-hosts when he implied that GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, 51, was past her prime.
Earlier, Haley made comments suggesting that political candidates over 75 should submit to mental competency tests, remarks Lemon and “CNN This Morning” co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins didn’t appear to agree with.
“Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry,” Lemon said. “When a woman is considered to be in her prime — in her 20s, 30s and maybe her 40s.”
“Prime for what?” Harlow replied.
Lemon then challenged his colleagues to Google when a woman is past her prime.
Harlow provided Lemon with an out, offering that he may have been referencing childbearing years.
“Don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just saying what the facts are,” he replied. “Google it.”
Lemon subsequently was taken off the air by the network for several days and underwent “formal training” before his return, according to CNN CEO Chris Licht.
In March, a story published by Variety listed allegations against Lemon that he mistreated female colleagues at CNN.
