Marjorie Taylor Greene on Tucker Carlson's ouster: 'The First Amendment is gone'
Former President Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene during the 3rd round of the LIV Golf Invitational Series Bedminster on July 31, 2022 at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Graessle/Icon Sportswi
ATLANTA - Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene had some choice words about Fox New's decision to oust influential prime-time host Tucker Carlson.
Monday, Fox said that the network and Carlson had "agreed to part ways," but offered no explanation for the stunning move, saying that the last broadcast of "Tucker Carlson Tonight" aired last Friday. Carlson had ended the show by saying, "We’ll be back on Monday."
Yet on Monday night, viewers tuned in to see morning anchor Brian Kilmeade, who said that Carlson was gone, "as you may have heard."
Writing on Twitter Wednesday morning, Greene said Carlson's departure from the network was proof that the "First Amendment is gone."
While the amendment is about government restriction on speech Greene argued the state was connected to the firing through "the unholy union of government and big tech."
"Fox News firing Tucker Carlson and editors not allowing negative democrat news stories because it would reveal the truth means there is no longer a free press."
Greene had previously said that the network "caved to the woke mob" with Carlson's firing telling Rep. Matthew Gaetz that she heard from people deleting the channel's apps from their phones.
"One day people will say, ‘Why didn’t anyone say anything or try to stop it?’" Greene wrote. "Sadly, they won’t know how many tried, but they will know how many didn’t."
The break from Carlson comes amid a cascade of bad legal news for the network. A week ago, Fox agreed to pay more than $787 million to settle a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s airing of false claims following the 2020 presidential election — shortly before Carlson was expected to be called to testify.
CBS’ "60 Minutes" on Sunday aired a report about a man caught up in a Jan. 6 conspiracy theory who said Carlson was "obsessed" with him, and whose lawyer has put Fox on notice of potential litigation. Carlson was also recently named in a lawsuit by a former Fox producer who said the show had a cruel and misogynistic workplace, and that she had been pressured to give misleading testimony in the Dominion case.
Carlson joined FOX News Channel in 2009 as a contributor and has hosted "Tucker Carlson Tonight" since 2017. Before joining FOX News, Carlson hosted "Tucker" on MSNBC, PBS’ "Tucker Carlson: Unfiltered" and co-hosted "The Spin Room" and "Crossfire" on CNN.
His populist tone about elites who are out to get average Americans rang true with Fox’s predominantly conservative audience, even leading to talk about Carlson becoming a political candidate himself one day.
For the time being, "Fox News Tonight" will continue to air in Carlson’s 8 p.m. Eastern prime-time slot, hosted by a rotating array of network personalities.
"We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor," the press release from the network said.
This station is owned by the FOX Corporation. The Associated Press contributed to this report.