Fox News and CNN look rather a lot totally different with two of cable information’s most recognizable faces, Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon, ousted from their respective house networks. As the mud settles from Monday’s gorgeous shakeups, all eyes are already on what’s next for the 2 anchors, Carlson specifically.
Carlson and Lemon be a part of a listing of different outstanding newscasters who’ve misplaced their jobs amid controversy. The reality neither Fox News nor CNN has given a selected motive as to why the on-air expertise was terminated solely provides gasoline to the media firestorm that has ensued.
So, the place do Lemon and Carlson go from right here? Yahoo Entertainment canvassed a number of consultants, who weighed in doable touchdown spots primarily based on how the hosts’ friends weathered different controversies.
Lemon and Carlson are hardly the primary large names in information to lose their jobs.
If historical past is any indication, we’ll see, or hear, extra from these two sooner or later. When taking a look at previous scandals throughout information networks, outstanding on-air anchors and hosts, for probably the most half, have landed on their ft. Here are how 5 of the most important shakeups over the previous decade panned out.
Bill O’Reilly
The political commentator, as soon as the top-rated host in cable information, was pressured out of Fox News in 2017 after an inner investigation corroborated a number of alleged sexual-harassment allegations. The O’Reilly Factor anchor known as the claims “unfounded.” The gorgeous transfer got here months after a sexual-harassment scandal led to the ouster of former Fox News Chairman Roger E. Ailes. O’Reilly was dropped by each his expertise and literary brokers within the wake of the scandal. In the six years since his firing, O’Reilly launched his personal radio present, No Spin News, and now often seems on NewsNation with Chris Cuomo.
Chris Cuomo
In 2021, CNN’s primetime star was suspended, and then fired, for aiding his brother, Andrew Cuomo, amid the previous New York governor’s sexual-harassment scandal. Chris Cuomo was additionally accused of sexual misconduct, an allegation he denied. It did not take lengthy for the previous Cuomo Prime Time host to seek out one other gig. He now anchors Cuomo on NewsNation, “a no-nonsense show featuring the day’s most important news from all perspectives.” He additionally has a podcast, The Chris Cuomo Projects.
Brian Williams
The journalist was NBC News’s prime anchor from 2004 to 2015, however was abruptly suspended with out pay from Nightly News after it was decided he falsely claimed he’d been in a helicopter that was hit by enemy fireplace within the Iraq War. Despite a giant repetitional hit, Williams caught round as he ultimately moved to MSNBC the place he launched The eleventh Hour. In 2021, Williams introduced he was leaving after 28 years to “spend time with his family.”
Matt Lauer
As the #MeToo motion swept via the business in 2017, NBC fired the longtime Today present host following allegations of sexual misconduct within the office. Lauer initially stayed silent, however spoke out two years later to refute a selected declare that he raped a former co-worker. Lauer mentioned he and the lady had a “consensual” affair. He has not labored in media for the reason that scandal.
Megyn Kelly
When Kelly departed Fox, she was excited to depart the “snake pit” of primetime information. In 2017, the conservative journalist landed a daytime slot at NBC with Megyn Kelly Today — however her time there was short-lived. The present was canceled one 12 months later after Kelly made controversial remarks about blackface and Halloween costumes. Kelly settled with NBC for a multimillion greenback sum and ultimately bought again to work. Kelly hosts a chat present and podcast, The Megyn Kelly Show, on SiriusXM and YouTube.
Carlson and Lemon are barely totally different instances, although.
No official motive was given as to why the 2 had been let go, however various narratives have begun to emerge within the press.
“There is less of a specific anchor to the oustings of Carlson and Lemon, but that doesn’t make them less interesting,” Allison Butler, media critic and senior lecturer at University of Massachusetts Amherst, explains to Yahoo Entertainment. “Lauer, O’Reilly and Cuomo were all part of the #MeToo movement and a pushback against male bullies in the workplace. Carlson has yet to have the allegations of a volatile workplace be formally proven.”
Two lawsuits hover over Carlson’s termination. His firing comes days after Fox News’s hefty $787.5 million settlement settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. Some of Carlson’s headline-grabbing textual content messages had been launched as a part of the dispute, however there have been additionally ton of redacted correspondence from the commentator that, whereas they weren’t made public, had been seen by Fox’s prime executives. Clearly, somebody excessive up wasn’t pleased — and that particular person was reportedly Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch. The Los Angeles Times reviews the choice was additionally associated to a discrimination lawsuit filed by former Tucker Carlson Tonight booker, Abby Grossberg.
“One presumes that the behind-the-scenes calculations at Fox saw that he would prove to be too dangerous or too embarrassing to keep around, despite his ratings. Parting ways at this point may save Fox from future embarrassment while simultaneously, because of his popularity, sets Carlson up for future work,” Butler continues. “It’s a win-win for both network and individual.”
(Meanwhile, Vanity Fair, citing an unnamed supply, steered in a report launched Tuesday that Murdoch was upset by “extreme” spiritual views espoused by Carlson in a speech to the Heritage Foundation on Friday, the day his last present aired. Carlson denounced these calling for LGBTQ rights and DEI packages and mentioned America wanted extra prayer. “That stuff freaks Rupert out. He doesn’t like all the spiritual talk,” the supply informed Vanity Fair.)
As for Lemon, he has been in scorching water for months resulting from misogynistic feedback on air. A current exposé additionally highlighted alleged sexist habits off digicam, which he denied.
“Lemon fumbled a great deal and made utterly stupid statements, but again, there is no singular reason for his ousting. His statements against women were insulting, but also totally unoriginal; women have been hearing misogynistic claims about their worth and have been on the receiving end of fake apologies for generations,” Butler provides.
“Carlson will be fine and will land soon.”
Butler, co-author of The Media and Me: A Guide to Critical Media Literacy for Young People, believes “as long as [Carlson] stays volatile, he will be professionally fine.”
“He has fomented enough divisiveness that he can either start his own platform or be hired by the most right-wing conservative branch of the media and be the star player. He no longer needs to be a centerpiece in a crowded field; he can be the centerpiece,” she explains. “Carlson is laser-focused in his messaging, stays on-brand, and rarely strays from his core performance. This will make him an easy hire.”
Mark Feldstein, professor on the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, believes Carlson has extra of a possibility than a few of his Fox News predecessors, however says he will not wield the identical energy as one week in the past.
“None of the anchors at Fox who were [let go] in disgrace have rehabilitated themselves. Not Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs — none of them have had the same kind of influence that they did. Fox is the star, really, not any of the hosts who temporarily think they’re stars,” Feldstein tells Yahoo.
“That said, Carlson’s contacts within the right-wing political arena might bounce in some strange ways if he ends up running [for office]. There’s some strange ways he could bounce, but I don’t think he will ever have the same kind of clout he did when Fox News was his megaphone,” he concludes.
“I could see Lemon ending up at Fox.”
Feldstein, who spent 20 years as an on-air investigative correspondent at networks together with CNN and ABC News, makes a stunning prediction a couple of potential touchdown spot for Lemon.
“I could see Lemon ending up at Fox as their token liberal who the rest of the conservatives get to beat on like they did Alan Colmes back in the day,” Feldstein provides. (Colmes was the liberal counterpart to Sean Hannity as the 2 hosted Hannity & Colmes from 1994 to 2008.) Feldstein says each Fox and Lemon might be within the transfer “just to kind of stick a finger in CNN’s eye.”
“I don’t know if that will happen. I don’t think any other major news network will touch [Lemon],” he provides.
Butler agrees that Lemon is “more of a risk,” including that Carlson is probably going a “different case.”
“[Lemon’s] has fumbled so many times and spoken so problematically, he will need to be re-branded before he moves back into the spotlight. The ‘sensitivity training’ from February may snowball into a public self-reckoning which may be announced via speaking engagements or a book deal, which will launch the next phase of his career,” she speculates.
“I think this is absolutely not the last we will see or hear of either of them. But I do think we’ll hear and see Carlson more prominently sooner than we’ll hear about or from Lemon,” Butler says.
Discussion about this post