Fox News settled for $787 million and agreed to fire Tucker Carlson

According to a report by Variety, the departure of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson was reportedly linked to the channel's settlement with Dominion Voting Systems. The report states that Dominion made Carlson's departure an unwritten condition of its settlement with Fox, although both Dominion and Fox strongly deny the claim. The condition was reportedly not formally written down in any of the case's settlement documents, but was based on a verbal agreement between Fox Corporation's board and Carlson. If Fox did not follow through, Dominion would not have settled with the company. However, there are reasons to be skeptical that the two events are explicitly linked, as Carlson's show was responsible for just one of the 20 allegedly defamatory statements that Dominion cited. Additionally, Dominion's argument was based more on comments made by Lou Dobbs, Maria Bartiromo, and Jeanine Pirro than those made by Carlson. Fox canceled Dobbs' show on Fox Business in February 2021, a day after Smartmatic, another voting machine company, filed suit against Fox, Dobbs, Bartiromo, and Pirro. Pirro's solo show ended and she is now a co-host on "The Five." Bartiromo continues to anchor a daily Fox Business program and a weekly Fox News show among other duties. Carlson has since announced that he will host a show on Twitter, a move that could violate his Fox contract. While Carlson's abrupt departure came just days after Dominion's settlement, it remains unclear whether the two events are explicitly linked.