-
Fox News sent a cease and desist letter to Tucker Carlson after his show launched on Twitter.
-
The network accused Carlson of breaching his contract, Axios reported.
-
This ups the ante in the battle between Carlson and his former network.
Tucker Carlson has received a “cease and desist” letter from Fox News because his new Twitter show poses a new threat to the host’s former network, Axios reported.
The move comes as Carlson, who launched a new Twitter show last week called “Tucker on Twitter,” is embroiled in a contract dispute with the media giant, according to Axios.
Axios previously reported that Fox accused Carlson of violating the terms of the contract which stated that his services would be completely exclusive to the network until the end of 2024. Carlson’s contract with Fox runs until January 2025.
The debut of Carlson’s new show aired on June 6. The show received nearly 170 million views after two episodes.
Fox’s move upped the ante in a heated dispute between the two sides that became increasingly public after Carlson’s departure from the conservative news channel in April.
Carlson was ousted from the organization after Fox reached a $787 million libel settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, which was baselessly accused of being involved in a rigged voting scheme that stole votes from Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
Carlson has since taken to Twitter for his new show, saying Twitter’s ownership under Elon Musk makes it the last remaining platform open to “free speech”.
In his first episode, which involved a monologue about UFOs and war conspiracies in Ukraine, Carlson said American audiences were lied to “at full volume over a period of years.”
The controversial host has been a huge draw for Fox, with his weekday primetime show consistently reaching around three million viewers each night. In a statement to Axios last week, Carlson’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, said Fox News wanted to take away “Carlson’s right to free speech.”
Fox News and Carlson’s legal team did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment made outside of regular business hours.
Read the original article on Business Insider