Fox News host fired over Ukraine criticism, reports suggest

Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch inexplicably fired its biggest star last week just a few weeks after holding a private phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which reports say included a demand from Zelenskyy to pull Carlson off the air.

Until April 24th Tucker Carlson, host of cable news’s most watched program Tucker Carlson Tonight, was television’s most influential critic of US aid for Ukraine, which has so far amounted to over $75 billion. Carlson criticized Ukraine as “not a democracy in any recognizable sense” and called Zelenskyy a “dictator” after the Ukraine president launched an aggressive censorship campaign to shut down political opposition soon after the war began.

In March 2022, a month after Russia’s invasion, the actor-turned-president signed a decree to nationalize the media by consolidating all TV networks into one state-run outlet so that there will be a “unified information policy". 

At the same time, Zelenskyy banned 11 opposition parties in Ukraine’s Parliament which he accused of Russia collusion. 

A Ukraine official confirmed in February that as of November 2022 the country pulled from its libraries 19 million books that were either in Russian or were written in the Soviet era. Eleven million of those books are in Russian. It is also forbidden to play Russian music in public, on television and on the radio.

In July, Zelenskyy’s Center for Countering Russian Disinformation published a blacklist of Americans who it accused of "promoting Russian propaganda” for not supporting Ukraine in the war. The list included Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), journalist Glenn Greenwald, retired U.S. Army Colonel Douglas MacGregor, academic John Mearsheimer, and military historian Edward Luttwak.

Following the release of the blacklist, Carlson called Zelenskyy a “dictator” who was not only censoring political opponents in Ukraine, but also sought to “impose censorship in our country”. Carlson’s ongoing criticism of Ukraine drew the ire of Ukraine authorities.

Zelenskyy’s regime has only increased its suppression efforts. Last month, Ukraine authorities arrested Ukraine Orthodox Church (UOC) priest Metropolitan Pavel for “justifying Russian aggression” after the religious leader cursed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier in the week.

Now reports say that Zelenskyy may have pressured Murdoch to fire Carlson, which possibly included blackmailing the tycoon by threatening to “expose” him as a Kremlin asset.

In March the two held a private phone call in which they reportedly discussed the war and deaths of two Fox News journalists who were covering the war last year. Senior officials had previously expressed their displeasure about Carlson to Fox News executives, though Semafor reports from an anonymous source that Carlson was not discussed on the call.

Murdoch has reportedly been “disturbed” by Carlson’s opposition to Ukraine aid. The New York Post and Wall Street Journal, also owned by Murdoch, have taken to task Republicans who did not express support for aiding Ukraine.

Journalist Glenn Greenwald suggested Monday that Carlson’s “opposition to the US proxy war in Ukraine was a major factor in his firing.”

But it wasn’t just Murdoch and Zelenskyy who were offended by Carlson. The talk show host was a thorn in the side of the Biden administration, which has been rejoicing at the fall of their political opponent.

Last week, Politico reported that several Pentagon officials have cheered Carlson’s ouster, and Joe Biden himself took a shot at Carlson during his speech at the White House Press Correspondents banquet Saturday.

“The truth is, we really have a record to be proud of: vaccinated the nation, transformed the economy, earned historic legislative victories and midterm results. But the job isn’t finished, I mean, it is finished for Tucker Carlson,” Biden said. Many in the crowd gasped, perhaps at seeing a declared US president cheer the fall of a member of the press.

“What are you ooo’ing about like that. Like you think that’s not reasonable? Give me a break,” Biden said.