The Departed: A Noisy Right Wing Media Farewell to Tucker & Don
By Kevin Howley, April 26, 2023
It’s not every day that finds both liberals and conservatives raising a cheer. But that’s precisely what happened this past Monday.
When word broke of Tucker Carlson’s hasty departure from Fox News, liberal-leaning cable news viewers were grinning from ear to ear. Within the hour, conservatives got their schadenfreude on as CNN unceremoniously showed Don Lemon the door.
The reasons behind the sudden ouster of the two cable news “personalities” remain unclear. This much we do know: Tucker Carlson is synonymous with Fox News’ once profitable brand of extremist-friendly conspiracy slinging; Don Lemon’s misogynist comments about GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley – remember her? – opened the proverbial can of worms on the longtime CNN anchor’s sketchy gender politics.
It all made for a somewhat engrossing and occasionally entertaining trip down the conservative media rabbit hole.
Stunningly Stunned
Under the headline “Stunner! Tucker Carlson Suddenly Out at Fox News,” WND repeated a portion of the terse statement Fox News released Monday morning thanking Carlson for his “service to the network,” adding, “the statement failed to explain a reason for the ratings champion for many years to leave.”
WND wasn’t the only one stunned by Monday’s twin firings. Over at Townhall, the headline quoted the former CNNanchor: “‘I Am Stunned’: Don Lemon Terminated by CNN.” Playing up simmering tensions between Mr. Lemon and the cable network, the story continues, “Taking a swipe at his now-former employer, Lemon said, ‘It is clear that there are some larger issues at play,’ though he did not enumerate what he thought they might be.”
Living up to its name, The Blaze added heat, but no light with this headline: “Don Lemon Out at CNN; ‘Stunned’ Former Host Blasts Management With Twitter Post.” Meanwhile, the Daily Caller was quick to report CNN’s response to Lemon’s Twitter tantrum. “‘Don Lemon’s statement about this morning’s events is inaccurate,’ CNN Communications tweeted. ‘He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter.”
For his part, Mr. Carlson has been uncharacteristically quiet. Not to worry dear reader, his surrogates are having a field day.
Numbingly Dumb
Rushing to Tucker’s defense, Breitbart aimed to hit Fox News where it hurts: the bottom line. Headlined, “Shares of Fox Plunge After Company Announces Tucker Carlson Departure,” this gotcha story reveals its limited shelf life, “Shares were down by as much as 5.1 percent after the news broke. They have since recovered some of that ground.” The technical term for this sort of reporting is “a nothing burger.”
Meanwhile, WND didn’t pull any punches with this item: “‘Mind-Numbingly Dumb’: Fox Ripped For Splitting with Tucker Carlson.” Still, the prospect of a mass exodus from Fox News is difficult to ignore. This headline from The Blazesums up these concerns: “People Are Canceling Fox Nation Subscription After Tucker Carlson and the Network Split.” PJMedia’s take throws even more shade Fox’s way: “Fox News ‘Is Dead,’ and Tucker Carlson is Already Living Large With a Job Offer.”
Reports of Fox News’ death may be premature, but some conservative commentary reads like an obituary for Tucker. “Carlson’s Willingness to Question Dominant Narratives Made Him an Enemy of Powerful Establishment,” proclaimedThe Daily Signal. Then there’s “fearless” Blaze columnist Jason Whitlock’s anti-woke tirade headlined “Tucker Carlson and the Rise of Matriarchal Marxism.”
Whitlock’s critique has a familiar ring of fragile masculinity, with a twist of lemon: “The fall of Tucker Carlson at Fox News symbolized the martiarchy’s prioritizing of message over merit. Performance could not shield Carlson from the consequence of America’s adoption of a feminized culture that levels the playing field by castrating men, reimagining traditional standards, and embracing a false reality.”
Speaking of false realities, it wouldn’t be a Tucker Carlson story without a heaping portion of conspiracy-laden hokum.
Tucker Has His Own Theory
Based on reporting in Vanity Fair, WND proclaims “Tucker Carlson ‘Has His Own Theory’ on Why He Was Booted.” Seems Tucker has inside information about a pending sale of Fox News. With Mr. Carlson as the source, I suppose you’d call that a fire sale.
WND also floated the idea that Carlson’s coverage of Trump World’s failed coup of January 6, 2021 was his undoing. But not for the reasons cited in recent accounts in “left-leaning newspapers” like the Los Angeles Times.
Headlined “Is Tucker Ouster Tied to His Coverage of Alleged Videotaped J6 Instigator?” this story instead repeats Carlson’s claims that Ray Epps was responsible for the Capitol insurrection. “One day after the airing of a sympathetic CBS ’60 Minutes’ interview with controversial videotaped, alleged Jan. 6 instigator Ray Epps – in which Epps played the victim and sought to shift blame for J6 violence to Tucker Carlson – the most popular host on Fox News was ousted by the network.”
Who Ya Gonna Blame?
It’s back to basics with conspiracy minded conservatives, like the Daniel J. Flynn over at The American Spectator, who pin Tucker’s fall from grace on media elites, with stories like this one: “Tucker Carlson Firing Shows Elites, Not Remotes, Control.”
And if such claims are a little old school for the MAGA faithful, consider this item from WND: “Tucker Firing is Election Interference, Biden Protection.” Then there’s the Deep State angle, as reported in the Daily Caller, “Anonymous Pentagon Officials Badmouth Tucker Carlson, Applaud His Exit: ‘Good Riddance.’”
Who am I to argue with the Defense Department? All the same, Hot Air has it right when it observes “The Gloating Over Tucker Carlson’s Exit is Very Premature.” True that. Carlson may be out from Fox, but, as American Thinker painfully reminds us, he’ll be spinning his conspiracy theories somewhere else before long.
In the meantime, I’m working on a new cocktail to celebrate this brief respite: two parts Guzzlers Gin, one part Limoncello, and a dash of Amaretto. I call it the Lemon Tucker.
Kevin Howley is a writer and educator whose work has appeared in Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, Social Movement Studies, and Interactions: Studies in Communication and Culture. His most recent book is Drones: Media Discourse and the Public Imagination.
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The reasons behind the sudden ouster of the two cable news “personalities” remain unclear. But it all made for a somewhat engrossing and occasionally entertaining trip down the conservative media rabbit hole. (Image: Pixabay)
