Carlson is expected to speak at an Alabama fundraiser for disabled adults on Thursday, group says
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is expected to appear at an Alabama fundraiser this week, coming more than a week after his departure from Fox News, according to the organization of the event.
Carlson will speak at the annual fundraiser for Rainbow Omega at 7 p.m. on Thursday, according to the Oxford Performing Arts Center website. Rainbow Omega bills itself as a “faith-based non-profit organization that provides vocational and residential programs to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.”
“He’ll be here Thursday,” Tim Hodge, the executive director of Rainbow Omega in Eastaboga, told AL.com on Monday afternoon.
“We actually booked him back last fall,” Hodge said, referring to the popular former host. “The timing for last week’s announcement was unexpected by anybody.”
Last Monday, Fox News confirmed that it parted ways with Carlson but neither the company nor Carlson have provided any details about why. Since then, Carlson has released one video that criticized the state of the news media in general.
“Anytime you have a featured speaker from the world of politics, with our country’s political divide, you can bet there’s a lot of interest,” Hodge told the outlet. “It was kind of an unusual situation. There has been renewed interest.”
Hodge added that Carlson has “honored what he said he would do,” adding: “We’re looking forward to him being here and being part of our fundraiser.”
It’s not clear what Carlson will talk about during the event in Alabama. Hodge stated that Carlson agreed to attend the fundraiser because he believes it’s a worthwhile cause.
“If he announces what he plans to do next, we would have loved to have retroactively known that and promoted that,” Hodge remarked, without elaborating. “It’s an interesting sequence of events that led to where we are.”
The final episode of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Fox News aired on April 24 after he had been at the network for about 14 years. Since Fox’s announcement, there has been widespread speculation about why.
