Fox sends cease-and-desist letter to Tucker Carlson over Twitter show

Fox has sent Tucker Carlson a “cease and desist” letter over videos he is posting to Twitter, according to his lawyer, in an escalation of tensions between the rightwing media star and his former employer.

Carlson had been among the most popular anchors on Fox News before he was abruptly fired in April, in the wake of the company’s $787.5mn settlement with voting company Dominion over the network’s role in airing conspiracy theories about election fraud. His exit has shaken up a US conservative media landscape long dominated by Fox.

He last month announced plans to relaunch his show on Twitter, a point of contention with Fox as the two sides battle over the details of his contract. According to Carlson’s lawyers, any non-compete provision was no longer valid because Fox had previously breached his contract.

Harmeet Dhillon, a lawyer who represents Carlson, said: “Doubling down on the most catastrophic programming decision in the history of the cable news industry, Fox is now demanding that Tucker Carlson be silent until after the 2024 [US] election.”

Fox News did not respond to a request for comment. 

Carlson last week posted two “episodes” to Twitter, which consisted of monologues each about 10 minutes long.

Last month he alluded to his exit from Fox, warning his followers on Twitter that journalists face limits at established media groups and that breaching them too often results in being sacked.

He said: “What’s it like to work in a system like that? After more than 30 years in the middle of it we could tell you stories. The best you could hope for in the news business at this point is the freedom to tell the fullest truth that you can.

“But there are always limits. And you know that if you bump up against those limits often enough, you will be fired for it.”

Fox fired Carlson partly because of private messages he had sent, which were made public in legal filings in recent months, according to people briefed on his exit. Some of the messages showed Carlson criticising Fox’s management.