According to a report published on Thursday, a number of prominent Fox News employees may leave in the near future.

Variety reported that a number of current Fox News personnel are considering joining the project that former top-rated host Tucker Carlson may be working on, which could include Twitter-based programming.

The report comes after Carlson strongly indicated in a video posted earlier this month that he was planning to air a live program on Twitter.

“Carlson’s Twitter move could have additional reverberations with talent at the network. A handful of Fox anchors have reached out to Carlson directly or had their surrogates contact him to say they are eager to join whatever venture he starts on Twitter when their contracts are up, according to sources,” Variety reported.

Carlson is currently under contract with Fox News for a reported $20 million per year, preventing him from joining another network. According to reports, his contract does not expire until January 2025, following the 2024 election.

According to Variety, Carlson’s removal from the air was a condition of Fox’s recent defamation settlement:

According to multiple sources familiar with the conversation, Carlson spoke by phone on April 26 with one of Fox Corp.’s eight board members, who informed him that his recent benching was a condition of Fox News’ settlement with Dominion Voting Systems.

The unidentified board member explained to Carlson that the stipulation was not included in any of the settlement’s written documents and was instead a verbal agreement. Carlson was informed that the settlement was void if Fox did not comply. The $787.5 million agreement to resolve Dominion’s defamation suit against the network would not officially close until late May, giving Dominion ample leverage.

Dominion’s defamation claims were based primarily on accusations aired post-2020 election on programs hosted by Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, and Maria Bartiromo. However, the company wanted to harm Fox and, as a result, pressured the network to cut ties with its most popular talent: Tucker Carlson.

“That condition was intended to hurt Fox, and Tucker is just collateral damage,” a source familiar with the matter told Variety. “Dominion wanted to punish Fox, and it’s working.”

Fox and Dominion have both denied that the dismissal of Carlson was part of the settlement agreement.

According to sources close to him, Carlson is reportedly contemplating the creation of his own direct-to-consumer media platform, on which his large fan base could pay to watch him. Bill O’Reilly, Carlson’s predecessor on Fox News, is currently hosting a program during Carlson’s former timeslot for The First TV, which is now available on DirecTV.

Axios and others reported that multiple outlets, including the Rumble streaming platform, Newsmax TV, and Valuetainment, have already contacted Carlson and offered to pay him more per year than Fox is doing.

More on this story via Conservative Brief:

In a video posted to Twitter this month, Carlson said, “There aren’t many platforms left that allow free speech. The last big one remaining in the world is Twitter. If you bump up against the limits [in the news business] you will be fired for it.” CONTINUE READING…