It’s been two years since Tucker Carlson answered a phone call on a Monday morning in late April 2023 to learn that the Fox News Channel had canceled his prime-time show.
“I got fired from Fox for saying things they didn’t like,” Carlson told The Daily Signal during an exclusive interview at The Heritage Foundation’s Annual Leadership Conference.
“That’s all right, you know. It’s not my company,” Carlson said of his ouster from Fox, adding, “I wasn’t one of those people like, ‘You can’t fire me.’ It’s like, of course you can fire me!”
He was replaced in the 8 p.m. Eastern Time slot by Jesse Watters.
Fox was not the first major network to end its relationship with Carlson.
“I got fired once for low ratings [and] once for being kind of a lunatic,” he recalled. The political commentator worked at CNN and MSNBC before later going on to work at Fox News.
Looking back on his more than two decades working at Fox News, Carlson said, “I would always say to Fox, ‘I’m not going to take instruction. I mean, you hired me to get decent ratings, I’ve done that. If you don’t like what I say, you can take me off the air, but you’re not going to control my show, just fire me.’ … And that seemed like that had always been our deal.”
After spending about 30 years working in the world of cable news, Carlson said, “I liked everyone I worked for, including the people who fired me.”
Carlson’s Post-Fox Pursuits
Since his breakup with Fox News, Carlson started his own company and launched a YouTube channel, which now has nearly 4 million subscribers, where he shares multiple video interviews each week.
Carlson hosts a wide range of guests on his show. Between March 5 and March 7, for example, Carson released interviews with Sam Bankman-Fried, who is currently in prison for fraud related to the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange; Jonathan Roumie, who played Jesus in “The Chosen”; and Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
“I have varied interests, you know, but I’m interested in people,” Carlson said.
While Carlson said he could have retired after losing his job at Fox News and pursued his passions for trout fishing, bird hunting, and carpentry, his love of people kept him in the news and political commentary space.
“But I really love talking to people. I like learning—that sounds like B.S., but it’s actually fully sincere. And I love that more than I love money. I would do that for free,” he said.
‘I Don’t Read Any News Content at All’
Despite still working in the field of political commentary, Carlson says he does not “read any news content at all,” but instead gets his news from people.
“I’m not following every topic, he said. “I only follow five or six things.”
“I’m really interested in the foreign policy stuff, and I’ve spent a lot of time on that topic,” Carlson said. “I’m not an expert on it, but I certainly know a lot more than most policymakers in the United States who are probably the dumbest people I’ve ever met in my life, and reckless, and not all, but the majority have no right to make the decisions that they make.”
“I’m interesting in spiritual questions, he continued. “I’m interest in the outdoors, and I’m interested in the balance of power globally, and in war and preventing it. So, those are my interests.”
Life is a lot easier, Carlson said, when you focus on your interests and know that “you don’t have to be an expert on everything. And by the way, no one can be.”
Among the people who he says he does talk to in order to stay informed on the issues he cares about, there are “a surprisingly small number of journalists, but there are still a couple who I know because they’re really well-informed.”
“I don’t read The New York Times,” the former TV host said. “I don’t subscribe to The Washington Post. I don‘t read Politico or any of that crap. It’s just garbage. Like, why would you read that? Because it gets in your head and then you can’t remember, ‘How did I know that? Where did I hear that?’ You know? So, I get almost 100% of my information from individuals on the phone or by text.”
Watch Part II of the interview with Carlson above, or click here to watch Part I.
