Fox News anchor Sean Hannity was “stunned” to discover that the network had parted ways with Tucker Carlson, a longtime host.

Hannity, whose 9 PM ET program on Fox News promptly follows Carlson’s now-former time slot, admitted on his radio program “The Sean Hannity Show” that he was unaware of Carlson’s departure.

“It’s very hard,” Hannity said. “My phone has been blowing up. The hard part for me is I don’t have a clue … I have no idea. Was it Tucker’s decision? Was it Fox’s? Was it a mutual agreement that they had? I don’t know. I guess people think that because I’ve been there the longest I’d have some knowledge or understanding of what’s going on, but… I just don’t.”

The abrupt departure of Tucker Carlson from Fox News appears to have affected other presenters, including Sean Hannity.

The Epoch Times published a report last week detailing how several primetime cable news hosts experienced enormous ratings declines in the previous week.

Nielsen reports that 2.65 million people watched the finale of Carlson one week ago. Monday’s ratings for Brian Kilmeade’s fill-in hosting of “Fox News Tonight” were 2.59 million, Tuesday’s were 1.7 million, and Wednesday’s were 1.33 million. Nielsen data reveals that Carlson drew approximately 3 million viewers last Wednesday.

Nielsen reports that Sean Hannity’s 9 p.m. Fox News program attracted approximately 2.5 million viewers on Monday, 2 million on Tuesday, and 1.7 million on Wednesday. The week prior, Hannity attracted approximately 2.6 million viewers on Wednesday, according to the ratings.

The April 19 episode of “The Ingraham Angle” attracted 2.156 million viewers. This past Wednesday, however, two days after Carlson’s departure was confirmed, her program attracted 1.55 million viewers.

The Jesse Watters show also declined. Wednesday’s audience was 1.558 million, compared to the previous week’s audience of 2.1 million.

Neighbors and residents of the small Maine town where Carlson spends his summers disclosed his state of mind immediately after he was removed from the air over the weekend.

Carlson received messages of support from residents of Woodstock, Maine, where he spends the majority of his summers, following his dismissal from Fox News.

Despite being a divisive figure on the national political scene, Woodstock residents describe Carlson as a decent neighbor, claiming they have never encountered his hostility in person.

“More time for fishing?” friend and carpenter Patrick Fenney asked Carlson in a text message at around lunchtime on Monday, the day CEO Suzanne Scott reportedly told the now-former host his show was being taken off the air.

“He called me back at 1 and said he found out about it a half hour before I did,” Fenney told the news outlet on Tuesday as he stood inside Carlson’s satellite TV studio that he helped Carlson build in an old barn downtown.

“He told me it started out as a normal day. He got up, wrote the show, and then he got the phone call saying it was all over and that they were going to announce it,” Fenney said. “He was pretty shocked. He asked them why and they wouldn’t give him a reason.”

Nonetheless, he stated that Carlson was not unhappy.

“He was not upset at all. He said that maybe he’d fish a little more this summer,” said the carpenter.

During the summer, he is a well-known figure in town, frequently working from his studio on Main Street and taking pauses to converse with neighbors and meet out-of-state fans.

Additionally, he can be observed doing yardwork, chopping timber, and painting shingles on his home. According to the report, the stately residence is situated on a small island in Lake Christopher, just a few hundred feet from the shore.

“You could walk down the road and knock on the next five doors, and people wouldn’t be able to tell you who the vice president is,” said Fenney. “They got other things to worry about. They don’t care. What they care about is if you don’t get your firewood and split it, you’ll freeze to death.”

More on this story via Conservative Brief:

He also said Carlson is “a very modest, not a fancy person.” CONTINUE READING…