Some conservatives call for boycott of Fox News after reports surface
A lawyer for Tucker Carlson issued a response after reports claimed that Fox News sent a letter accusing him of violating his contract by launching his own Twitter show this week.
“Fox defends its very existence on freedom of speech grounds. Now they want to take Tucker Carlson’s right to speak freely away from him because he took to social media to share his thoughts on current events,” Carlson’s lawyer, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement to Axios on Wednesday, appearing to confirm reports that Fox News notified Carlson’s lawyers about a possible contract violation.
A letter was sent by Fox News’ counsel, Bernard Gugar, to Carlson’s attorneys saying that he now “is in breach” of his contract with Fox News after he premiered the first episode of his new Twitter show, “Tucker on Twitter,” on Tuesday night. The first installment generated more than 100 million views on the social media platform.
“In connection with such breach and pursuant to the Agreement, Fox expressly reserves all rights and remedies which are available to it at law or equity,” the letter from Gugar stated, according to Axios. The Epoch Times could not verify the authenticity of the contents of the letter.
It continues: “This evening we were made aware of Mr. Tucker Carlson’s appearance on Twitter in a video that lasted over 10 minutes … pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, Mr. Carlson’s ‘services shall be completely exclusive to Fox,’” while appearing to quote Carlson’s contract.
The letter further stipulated that Carlson’s contract says that he is “prohibited from rendering services of any type whatsoever, whether ‘over the internet via streaming or similar distribution, or other digital distribution whether now known or hereafter devised.’”
About a month ago, Fox News issued a news release saying that it had parted ways with Carlson for unclear reasons. Neither Fox nor Carlson have publicly commented on the split, although Carlson hinted in a video last month that he may have reported on topics that the company’s management disagreed with.
The Epoch Times has approached Fox News and Freedman for comment about the letter. As of Thursday, neither Carlson nor Fox News have issued public comments about the letter sent to the former host’s lawyers.
Calls for Boycott
After the Axios report was published Wednesday about Fox’s demand letter, some conservative influencers and journalists issued calls for a boycott, while criticizing Fox News.
