Following reports that Fox News is about to announce its “most daring and fearless lineup ever,” rumors and speculation are rampant this week.
Wednesday, the Drudge Report broke the news that Sean Hannity will replace Tucker Carlson at 8 p.m. ET. The host of “Jesse Watters Primetime,” Jesse Watters, will relocate from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. ET. “The Greg Gutfeld Show” will now air at 10 p.m. instead of 11 p.m.
“If that new plan were to take place, that means Laura Ingraham’s “The Ingraham Angle” would lose its 10 PM time slot to Gutfeld. So where does she go? 11 PM ET? Maybe 7 PM ET?
Fox News issued a statement contradicting the online rumors, stating, “No decision has been made on a new primetime lineup, and multiple scenarios are being considered.”
Interestingly enough, Fox News issued another statement on the rumors of Ingraham, adding, “Reports based on various tweets by left-wing activists are wildly inaccurate — Laura Ingraham, the top-rated woman in cable news, is now and will continue to be a prominent host and integral part of the Fox News lineup.”
Fox News’s statement merely refutes the allegations that Ingraham will leave the network. It did not specify whether or not she will maintain her 10 p.m. time period.
Following Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox News, news aggregator Matt Drudge revealed that the network will undergo a major reorganization, sparking speculations about Laura Ingraham.
“WORLD EXCLUSIVE: FOXNEWS SETS NEW SCHEDULE” read the headline from Drudge.
“Watters currently hosts one of Fox’s top-rated shows at 7 p.m. while Gutfeld hosts a highly-rated late-night show at 11 p.m. — both co-host Fox’s top-rated program The Five at 5 p.m. Hannity, meanwhile, broke the record for longest-running cable news prime time host in April of 2022, eclipsing Larry King at 25 years, six months, and 15 days,” Mediaite reported.
“FOXNEWS is preparing to announce an ambitious new schedule, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, a schedule where every hour of primetime will change!” Drudge reported. “TOP SOURCE TELLS DRUDGE: ‘IT’S OUR BOLDEST AND MOST FEARLESS LINE-UP EVER’…”
All of this began at the end of April, when Fox News announced Carlson’s dismissal.
This week’s reports cast more light on why Fox decided to pull its biggest star from the air late last month.
According to a report by RadarOnline.com, network executives informed Tucker Carlson that he was being fired as part of Fox News’ $787.5 million defamation settlement with Dominion Voting Systems.
“In the latest development to come three weeks after Carlson was removed from his role at the network on April 24, it has been reported that one of Fox Corp.’s eight board members was the one to tell the fired host that his ‘recent benching’ was the result of the secret condition in the Dominion settlement,” the outlet reported.
The report continued: “According to Variety, the conversation between Carlson and the board member took place on April 26 – two days after the network announced Carlson’s involuntary departure from the company. The board member also reportedly told Carlson that the secret condition ensuring Carlson’s canning would not be found in any of the $787.5 million defamation settlement documents because it was a verbal agreement.”
RadarOnline.com reported that if the network did not consent to these terms, Dominion’s attorneys were prepared to call off the settlement, restart negotiations, or take the case to trial.
More on this story via Conservative Brief:
“That condition was intended to hurt Fox, and Tucker is just collateral damage,” a source familiar with the reported secret agreement told Variety. “Dominion wanted to punish Fox, and it’s working.” CONTINUE READING…
