The Fox News Channel announced on Friday who will replace Tucker Carlson beginning the following week, continuing its transition away from its former leading man.

Carlson, who was relieved of his prime-time responsibilities prior to Monday’s program, was replaced by morning show co-host Brian Kilmeade this week, but ratings have plummeted, with some estimates indicating a loss of more than half of viewers.

Now, Fox will give 30-year-old Lawrence Jones a chance at the position. Jones currently has a Saturday night performance titled “Lawrence Jones Cross Country.”

“Fox News is trying out a rotating list of anchors in Tucker’s spot — this week it has been ‘Fox & Friends” Brian Kilmeade — but it is significant that they have chosen Jones to step up so soon after Tucker’s departure.” an insider told Page Six.

Jones resides in Dallas, but flies to New York on the weekends to film his show, which presently attracts approximately one million viewers and 108,000 viewers in the key 25-54 year-old demographic. He serves as an enterprise reporter for the morning program throughout the week.

Jones, who worked for the Obama campaign at age 15, has since found a home at the conservative network. From Uvalde, Texas, he reported on the tragic mass shooting that took the lives of 19 minors and 2 adults. He has also reported on the homicides in Idaho, the death of Tyre Nichols, the nationwide protests in response to the death of George Floyd, and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on minority communities throughout the United States.

“I never thought I would be doing this job. I think my classmates will tell you, and my parents would say that I always had an opinion. I was always advocating for someone involved with politics in some form or fashion,” he recently told The Dallas Morning News, adding that it was top-ranked host Sean Hannity who first offered him a slot at the network as a correspondent.

“I told him no, I didn’t think it was a good idea, ‘Because I’m a libertarian, and we’re going to disagree a lot,’” Jones said. “And he said, ‘Oh, that’s OK. Just be you,’” he added. “And I said, ‘No, we’re really going to disagree.’ He goes, ‘Just give it a shot.’ And that turned from two months into a year. And he said, ‘Listen, LJ, if you just be you, you’ll have your own show.’”

He continued by saying, “I may have a godparent of every race. People frequently ask me how I am able to report on a story in the south side of Chicago and then travel to Iowa to film a diner segment for ‘Fox & Friends’. And this is because I grew up surrounded by so many diverse types of individuals. It has enabled me to enter any crowd, comprehend their grievances, and grasp what matters most to them.

Former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly ‘broke’ the news of Tucker Carlson’s departure on her SiriusXM podcast on Thursday, stating that he is currently under contract with Fox and cannot leave the network.

“I wanna, I think, break some news for you. Tucker Carlson hasn’t actually been fired,” she said. “He’s still an employee of Fox News Channel.”

Kelly went on to explain that CEO Suzanne Scott contacted Carlson and informed him that he would no longer be permitted to host programs and would be denied access to the company’s email. She also stated that the pair must now “negotiate an exit” from the network.

She went on to claim that the call from Scott caught “Tucker completely off guard” but that he’s “not fired.”

More on this story via Conservative Brief:

“That’s my information, that he still needs to negotiate the exit and that right now he’s not free to launch a podcast or a digital show or negotiate with other employers at all because he’s still under contract,” Kelly continued. CONTINUE READING…