Fox wants Media Matters for America to stop posting leaked behind-the scenes videos of former network host Tucker Carlson. A lawyer for Fox Corporation sent a cease-and-desist letter to the liberal-leaning watchdog Friday, demanding that the organization take down a series of articles published this week titled FOXLEAKS. The articles revealed previously unaired clips of Carlson bashing Fox Nation (“the site sucks”), proposing to discuss “the fine points” of sexual technique with British newscaster Piers Morgan, calling a Dominion Voting Systems lawyer a “slimy little motherfucker,” and asking his makeup artist about pillow fights in the women’s bathroom. In one of the clips, Carlson addresses Media Matters directly: “Hey, Media Matters for America, go fuck yourself.” It’s unclear how the organization obtained the footage, which Fox’s lawyer called “confidential intellectual property.”
Media Matters President Angelo Carusone has rejected Fox’s demand to take down the leaked footage. “Reporting on newsworthy leaked material is a cornerstone of journalism. For Fox to argue otherwise is absurd and further dispels any pretense that they’re a news operation,” Carusone wrote in a statement. “Perhaps if I tell them that the footage came from a combination of WikiLeaks and Hunter Biden’s laptop, it will alleviate their concerns.” On Twitter, Carusone added that Fox’s original letter mistakenly said that the corporation “does consent” to further distribution of the Carlson footage. Fox, per Carusone, had to send a second letter to fix the mistake.
Carlson was abruptly fired from Fox on April 24, less than a week after the conservative media behemoth settled a massive $787 million defamation case with Dominion. Last week, The New York Times reported that in the lead-up to the trial, Fox executives discovered private messages that showed Carlson “making highly offensive and crude remarks that went beyond the inflammatory, often racist comments of his prime-time show,” which may have spurred Fox’s decision to settle. On Wednesday, the Times published one of these messages, in which Carlson described watching a group of Trump supporters attacking “an antifa kid” and lamented that the three-on-one beating was “not how white men fight.”
The Times reporting adds to a chorus of theories around Carlson’s ouster (including Vanity Fair’s Gabe Sherman reporting that Carlson’s “spiritual talk” was irking Fox Corp. Chair Rupert Murdoch). Whatever the reason, Carlson’s departure has seemingly already taken a toll on Fox’s ratings. According to reporting from The Washington Post, in the week after his firing, viewership on Fox’s 8 p.m. timeslot, which Carlson took over after Bill O’Reilly was pushed out in 2017 for sexual harassment allegations, dropped by almost half. In a statement to the Post, the network waved off the loss in viewership: “for more than 21 years, Fox News Channel has been cable news’ most-watched network in all categories,” the company said.
Jack McCordick
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