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Former Deadspin editor Timothy Burke (inset picture) from an undated social media image. (Graphic by The Desk)

A Florida man accused of hacking into web servers and subsequently leaking behind-the-scenes footage of Fox News programming is scheduled to go to trial on numerous criminal charges next summer, after a federal judge this week denied two critical motions that could have ended the case in his favor.

This week, U.S. District Judge Kathryn Mizelle said former Deadspin video editor Timothy Burke was not entitled to suppress laptops, phones, notebooks and other materials seized from his Tampa Bay home nearly two years ago as part of a federal investigation into the unlawful interception of Fox News video feeds.

The judge also said Burke is not entitled to a “Franks hearing” that would have evaluated whether federal law enforcement had the right to seek a search warrant against his home in the first place,...

It may be spooky season, but Christmas came early for Jimmy Kimmel in the form of Donald Trump wearing a garbage vest. The late-night host had no shortage of quips about the widely discussed political move/costume.

“That vest will come in handy when he’s on the side of the highway picking up trash with the other inmates,” Kimmel said on Thursday night, earning laughter and applause from his studio audience.

Following garbled comments from President Joe Biden, which seemingly called Trump supporters “garbage,” Trump wore a garbage worker vest, got in a garbage truck and showed up at a rally in Green Bay, Wis., wearing the vest. The ABC host called Trump a “lunatic” and “the not-so-great pumpkin” for the move.

“I do have to say the vest really brings out the color of his mouth,” Kimmel joked. He also pointed out that Trump continued to wear the vest throughout the rally,...

To someone not completely enmeshed in the state of the entertainment business, the documentary Union might seem like it has the trappings of an attractive nonfiction sales title: a dramatic story arc culminating in a history-making news event, close access to key players, a charismatic central character, glowing reviews and a premiere at a prestigious film festival.

And yet the film, which documents how an unconventional grassroots group organized the first-ever U.S. union at an Amazon warehouse, is coming to select theaters on Friday without the backing of any major entertainment companies. Months after the Brett Story and Stephen Maing-directed film screened at the Sundance Film Festival and won a special jury award there, the filmmakers announced they had turned to theatrical self-distribution in the absence of any major studio or streamer deals. With the move, a press release in June noted, the team was “recognizing the difficulties...

While working as an executive producer at Fox News Channel, Justin Wells oversaw some of the cable-news outlet’s most controversial segments, as well as many hours of documentary programming crafted expressly for its Fox Nation streaming service. Now he wants to offer his expertise to less partisan media companies.

Wells, who helped build and run “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” has created a six-part documentary series, “Art of the Surge,” that follows former President Donald Trump through recent months of campaigning. One of the most salient features: Wells had a camera stationed just feet away as Secret Service agents scrambled to protect Trump during an assassination attempt in Butler, Pa. The series debuts Wednesday on Carlson’s digital media properties, and, says Wells, is getting interest from an array of players — not just the usual suspects.

“Let me put it this way: I’m surprised,” he says during a recent interview.

Chelsea Handler has shared her thoughts on Jd Vance’s resurfaced comments about childless women, targeting the Ohio senator and vice-presidential candidate’s controversial remarks.

In a 2021 interview on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Vance stated that the U.S. was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made.”

Handler’s Response To Jd Vance’s Comment

Handler, 49, fired back in an Instagram video, pointing out the systemic issues in the country. “This country is still controlled by men in systems that were set up by men, that are carefully crafted to continue to benefit men,” Handler said. “So to put it in women-hating terms you’ll understand, you’re being hysterical.”

Handler, who has no children, also defended Vice President Kamala Harris, stating that there is no correlation between being childless and being unfit for the presidency.

In response to a recently resurfaced 2021 video of Republican Vice Presidential nominee and current United States senator from Ohio Jd Vance saying on the since canceled Fox News show “Tucker Carlson Tonight” that women who haven’t given birth were “childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives” and have “no direct stake” in the future of the United States, actress Jennifer Aniston (“Friends”) has called out Vance in a post published via her Instagram story.

In a conversation with Tucker Carlson, Vance said, “We are effectively run in this country via the Democrats via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. And it’s just the basic fact.” He added, “They are obsessed with their jobs, they’re...

Marco Gaudino of Washington is accused of conspiring with Florida journalist Timothy Burke to break into online services. (Photo via social media)

A federal judge has delayed the sentencing of a Washington man who admitted to helping Florida journalist Timothy Burke access computer systems used by Fox News and other broadcasters.

Marco Gaudino, 24, was originally scheduled to be sentenced in July after reaching a plea agreement with federal prosecutors and subsequently admitting to felony criminal conspiracy. However, his sentencing has been delayed to November at the earliest, because prosecutors believe Gaudino will help in their prosecution of Burke, who was indicted on 14 criminal counts in February.

Under the plea agreement, Gaudino affirmed his willingness to cooperate with investigators in their case against Burke, which could include testifying against the journalist if his case proceeds to trial. A trial date has been tentatively scheduled for mid-October.

Prosecutors say the two men...

Marco Gaudino of Washington is accused of conspiring with Florida journalist Timothy Burke to break into online services. (Photo via social media)

A Washington man who pled guilty to helping a Florida journalist trespass into computer systems will be sentenced in July, according to court records reviewed by The Desk.

Marco Gaudino, 24, faces up to five years in prison and an unspecified amount of restitution after pleading guilty to a single felony count of conspiracy last month. He must also surrender three devices seized by federal agents during a raid on his home last year, including a custom-built personal computer and an Android phone.

According to the plea agreement, Gaudino affirmed helping former Deadspin editor Timothy Burke access numerous online systems connected to news organizations and television broadcasters by scouring the Internet for usernames and passwords, then handing over those credentials to Burke.

Prosecutors say a number of news organizations...

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) issued a pardon to Daniel Perry, the former United States Army sergeant who had fatally shot an armed demonstrator during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020.

He was held in state prison on a 25-year sentence since being convicted of murdering Garrett Foster, an Air Force veteran who lawfully carried an Ak-47 while marching in a Black Lives Matter protest, by an Austin jury back in April 2023.

The former U.S. Army sergeant was working as a ride-share driver back in July 2020 when he turned his car onto a street in Austin filled with demonstrators and shot Foster before he drove off.

Perry served in the Army for over a decade. During the time of the shooting, he had been stationed at Fort Cavazos, then Fort Hood, which is about 70 miles north of Austin.

According to court records released in April, Perry had been sending racist...

Former Deadspin editor Timothy Burke (inset picture) from an undated social media image. (Graphic by The Desk)

A federal judge has set a preliminary trial date in the case of a well-known Florida journalist accused of collecting raw video files from Fox News shows by trespassing into online systems.

This week, the judge overseeing Timothy Burke’s criminal hacking case ordered the matter to be moved to the October trial calendar, with a preliminary start date of October 21.

Burke was indicted by a grand jury in February on more than a dozen counts related to conspiracy, computer trespass and electronic interception. He entered a plea of not guilty in early April and was released on his own recognizance with certain pre-trial conditions, including an order to undergo a mental health evaluation and substance abuse testing.

Burke’s trial date is likely to be delayed beyond October as federal prosecutors and...

The main studios of Tsn (The Sports Network) in Toronto. Tsn is owned by Bell Media. (Courtesy photo)

A Florida journalist who obtained and leaked raw video clips of Fox News programs had access to content from other broadcasters over the period of several months, federal prosecutors revealed this month.

In court documents obtained by The Desk, prosecutors say former Deadspin editor Timothy Burke and a Washington resident he met on Twitter swapped usernames and passwords belonging to video transmission service LiveU and Canadian sports broadcaster Tsn (The Sports Network), which allowed Burke to access raw video files associated with sports and news programming.

Since last May, prosecutors investigating the case have been quiet on confirming the identities of the victims whose websites were illicitly accessed, though sources confirmed to The Desk that Burke’s access to LiveU allowed him to watch and record raw video transmissions associated with Fox News Channel shows,...

Maren Morris tried that in a small town. The 33-year-old country singer seemingly made a cheeky dig at Jason Aldean while teasing her upcoming music video.

Taking to Instagram on Thursday, Morris first shared a skeptical-looking photo of herself followed by the camera panning in on a sign that reads, “Welcome to Our Perfect Small Town From Sunrise to Sundown.”

The words “Small Town” are in bright red, all caps block letters and the image of the American flag is flying behind the words.

In the audio from the clip, Morris can be heard singing, “Oooo, do ya hear?”

Morris captioned the post, “I’m done filling a cup with a hole in the bottom.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by...

Jumping the gun on Fox News’ GOP debate tonight, Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson made it clear to Rupert Murdoch that revenge is a dish best served online. Running like an incumbent with no desire to share the spotlight with vice president wannabes, Trump easily dominated the debate by never showing up.

“It’s debate night, but we’re not in Milwaukee,” Carlson proclaimed at the top of the video with a sour-looking Trump by his side.

“We’re doing this interview, but we’ll get bigger ratings using this crazy forum that you’re using than probably the debate,” said the former Potus and leading candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination to the former Fnc Golden Boy during their pre-recorded chat that debuted on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter at 5:55 p.m. Pt, five minutes before the live debate began.

Related: GOP Debate: Six Of Eight...

Fox News’ retooled primetime lineup topped rivals in July, but all cable news networks saw audience erosion versus the same month a year ago.

Jesse Watters Primetime, which debuted in the 8 p.m. Et time slot on July 17, averaged 2.4 million viewers, an improvement over the temporary occupant of the period, Fox News Tonight, with its series of rotating hosts, after Tucker Carlson’s show was pulled in April. Tucker Carlson Tonight averaged 3.1 million viewers in July, 2022.

Another schedule change was the move of Greg Gutfeld up an hour to 10 p.m. Et. Gutfeld! averaged 1.98 million viewers and 252,000 in the 25-54 demo. The latter was enough to place it second in that category, to Fox News’s The Five, which averaged 254,000. The Five also was the most watched cable news show, averaging 2.59 million viewers.

Overall, though, audiences were off versus July 2022, with Fox News and CNN seeing the most significant drops.

“I don’t know why I was fired, I really don’t,” declared Tucker Carlson today on his sudden departure from the airwaves of Fox News on April 24. “I’m not angry about it,” the former primetime host told pal Russell Brand. “I honestly don’t know.”

“I was surprised,” Carlson said at another point in the heavy hyped interview on Brand’s podcast. “I didn’t you know expect to get fired that morning at all in April. So, I was shocked, but I wasn’t really shocked. And I wasn’t mad. It’s not my company. And when you work for someone else, that person reserves the right and in fact has inherently the right to decide whether you work there or not.”

“You can believe me or not, but …I wish Fox well,” one-time GOP kingpin Carlson added.

Carlson may wish his former employer well, but...

Jesse Watters will take over Tucker Carlson‘s primetime time slot at Fox News. Carlson was ousted from the network effective immediately on April 24, and his show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, was simultaneously canceled. Fox News Tonight replaced Carlson’s spot, with former Trump aide Kayleigh McEnany temporarily hosting in May. Jesse Watters Primetime will move into the 8/7c time on the Fox News Channel starting Monday, July 17. Laura Ingraham‘s The Ingraham Angle is also moving up in the conservative network’s nightly lineup from 10/9c to 7/6c. Hannity will remain at 9/8c and Gutfeld! will move to 10/9c. Fox News @ Night with Trace Gallagher will move up one hour to 11/10c. Gutfeld is the only late-night talk show that’s still airing new episodes during the WGA writers strike. All of the other late-night titles have been airing reruns in solidarity with the striking writers. Jesse Watters Primetime is...

Fox News has settled on its new primetime lineup, promoting Jesse Watters to the 8 p.m. slot vacated by the abrupt firing of Tucker Carlson, pushing the “Gutfeld!” late-night juggernaut an hour earlier to 10 p.m. and putting Trace Gallagher to the 11 p.m. hour, the network announced Monday.

Also on the movie is Laura Ingraham, whose “Ingraham Angle” has solidly won the 10 p.m. spot since its 2017 debut, with a shift to 7 p.m. to kick off the weeknight primetime lineup, taking over Watters’ most recent start time. Fox did not announce who might take over the midnight hour that Gallagher will be vacating.

“Fox News Channel has been America’s destination for news and analysis for more than 21 years and we are thrilled to debut a new lineup,” Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott said. “The unique perspectives of Laura Ingraham, Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity, and Greg Gutfeld will...

A producer for Fox News who had previously worked on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Alex McCaskill, has exited the network after he was considered responsible for Tuesday’s on-air headline that referred to President Joe Biden as a “wannabe dictator.”

In its entirety, the headline read: “Wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested.” The chyron was featured during a broadcast covering the indictment of former President Donald Trump.

According to the Associated Press, Fox issued a statement the following morning saying that the chyron had been taken down and “addressed.” McCaskill then sent in his letter of resignation but was met with a request for an immediate departure, the AP reported.

Fox News did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for comment.

The Daily Beast’s Justin Baragona reported that the producer announced his departure in an Instagram post on Friday. “Today was my last day at Fox.

Fox News is not happy with Tucker Carlson‘s new Twitter show, which launched last week, and has sent the long-time news anchor a cease and desist letter. Carlson, who hosted Fox News’ popular late-night show Tucker Carlson Tonight from 2016 to 2023, parted ways with the network back in April. However, despite no longer appearing on-screen for Fox News, Carlson is still being paid and remains under contract through the end of 2024. According to Axios, Fox attorneys sent Carlson a cease and desist letter after he debuted his new Twitter show last week. In the first ten-minute video posted on Carlson’s official Twitter account, the host touched on several topics, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 9/11 conspiracies, the existence of UFOs, and more. Across the first two episodes, Carlson drew a combined 169 million views, though that doesn’t necessarily mean the videos were watched in full. Twitter video views are...

Fox News turned up on the heat on Tucker Carlson, sending the ousted host a cease-and-desist letter a day before he was expected to address the indictment of Donald Trump in his third episode, according to a Monday report by Axios.

Fox did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Carlson lawyer Harmeet Dhillon corroborated the action, tweeting: “My friend and client Tucker Carlson will not be silenced – by the far left or by Fox News,” and told Axios that Fox is “now demanding that Tucker Carlson be silent until after the 2024 election.”

Carlson is under contract and is still being paid through 2025 by Fox News, which believes Carlson’s DIY Twitter show falls under its noncompete. The erstwhile “Tucker Carlson Tonight” host and his lawyers say Twitter is not a Fox News competitor, and that he has a fundamental First Amendment right to give his opinions on social media.

“Tucker on Twitter” came online this week, and the all-new, slapped-together, DIY studio at Tucker Carlson’s summer home in Maine is giving off “Twin Peaks” vibes, both for its look, and its multiple pointless mysteries.

The UFO joystick, canes on the wall, a tuft of wild hair – what’s really going on here?

When Fox News came to claim its equipment from Tucker Carlson’s home-based TV studio in Maine, they came for it all – the repo job reportedly took the old barn back down to the studs. So when the former king of 8 p.m. TV launched his Twitter show this week, it was also a first look at the post-cable, built-from-scratch production quality one could expect from such a venture on a tight timeline: not without its homemade quirks.

Tucker Carlson’s ungovernable hair

Carlson has reportedly courted some members of his loyal production staff to join his new venture,...

Tucker Carlson launched his promised new show on Twitter on Tuesday with talk of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, UFOs, who killed JFK and what really went down on 9/11 — and the former Fox News host was a hit.

In its first four hours-plus, the low-tech 10-minute video posted on the Elon Musk-owned social media platform attracted 27 million views.

Broadcasting from what looked like a wooden cabin home studio and postulating that “American citizens are the least-informed in the world” along with his well-trodden take on the failings of the American media, Carlson essentially delivered what counted for a more echoing and caffeinated version of his nightly monologue on Fnc’s Tucker Carlson Tonight.

While the topics and themes bellowed out Tuesday might have been right at home on the Rupert Murdoch outlet where Carlson reigned supreme in primetime for over six years before being suddenly dropped on April 24 — his...

“Tucker on Twitter” launched Tuesday with a report on the blown dam in Ukraine — a first episode that, aside from more natural lighting, different background and shorter length, looks and sounds a lot like “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”

About the launch of his new show, there was no fanfare. “Hey, it’s Tucker Carlson,” he said, then launched straight into his report on the dam attack, suggesting Ukraine and/or the United States may have done it — as if it were a regular Tuesday night on the Fox News Channel.

The inaugural episode was only 10.5 minutes, far shy of the full 8 p.m. hour Carlson used to cover as a top-rated host on Fox News. But back then, he was also working with a full complement of Fox resources like editors and producers — not to mention the full set that Fox came to reclaim from his summer home in Maine.

Ep.

Harris Faulkner will take on a new role at Fox News next week as the longtime network personality steps in to guest host Fox News Tonight, starting Monday, June 5, and running through Friday, June 9. Faulkner is the latest anchor at the network to take on the host role in the 8 p.m. Et nightly timeslot following Tucker Carlson‘s exit from the network in late April. The host normally hosts The Faulkner Focus on weekdays at 11 a.m. Et and co-hosts Outnumbered weekdays at 12 p.m. Et alongside Kayleigh McEnany and Emily Compagno. (Credit: Matthew Eisman/Getty Images) Faulkner is the second woman to host the primetime hour since Tucker Carlson Tonight concluded, following her Outnumbered co-host, McEnany. Others to have filled in as hosts so far on Fox News Tonight are Brian Kilmeade, Lawrence Jones, Will Cain, Trey Gowdy, and Johnny Joey Jones. Prior to her time with Fox News,...

Fox News sent workers to dismantle and remove much of Tucker Carlson’s home-based broadcast set in Maine, The Daily Mail reported Wednesday, the latest twist of the knife in a bitter divorce between the former “Tucker Carlson Tonight” host and the cable network.

The studio was built in a converted barn on one of Carlson’s properties, where he taped “Tucker Carlson Tonight” and other shows for Fox News and Fox Nation in the summer. A person with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap that Fox owns the equipment and installed it at the network’s expense, and rightfully removed it but did not tear down the studio.

In any case, the Daily Mail reported that the studio will have to be completely rebuilt, according to the construction manager.

“Fox came in last week and got all their sh-t out of there,” Patrick Feeney, who said he is managing on-site,...

Sean Hannity opened his Wednesday midday radio show casually talking about Joe Biden’s handling of the debt-default crisis happening in Congress – but did not address a Drudge Report headline saying he was soon to move to Tucker Carlson’s old 8 p.m. Et slot as part of a major primetime shakeup at Fox News.

Drudge posted a banner headline on Wednesday claiming the exclusive, saying that “Hannity” would move to 8 p.m., and that Greg Gutfeld and Jesse Waters would be moving to join him in primetime. There was no attribution or additional information, however, and the headline linked to a Mediate write-up of the Drudge headline.

Fox strongly denied that any programming decisions had been made in the wake of Carlson’s ouster: “No decision has been made on a new primetime line-up and there are multiple scenarios under consideration,” Fox News said in a statement Wednesday.

Drudge...

The mystery surrounding Tucker Carlson’s ouster from the airwaves at Fox News — and his future plans in media — are coming into sharper focus.

On April 26, Carlson spoke by phone with one of Fox Corp.’s eight board members, who told the host that his recent benching was a condition of Fox News’ settlement with Dominion Voting Systems, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the conversation.

The unnamed board member told Carlson that the condition does not appear in any of the settlement’s documents, and instead was a verbal agreement. If Fox didn’t comply, the settlement was off, Carlson was told. Dominion had plenty of leverage given that the $787.5 million deal to settle Dominion’s defamation suit against the network wouldn’t officially close until late-May.

If Dominion opted to blow up the deal, Fox would return to square one on settlement talks or potentially subject the...

Tucker Carlson was pulled from Fox News Channel’s primetime slot last month. The inflammatory political pundit was known for being able to stoke his right-wing audience into a frenzy. He was also known for making several outrageous claims that made him extremely popular but frightened away big corporations from hosting ads during his show. Tucker Carlson’s dismissal comes shortly after Fox settled with Dominion in a defamation lawsuit. Dominion claimed that Fox promoted falsehoods that Dominion’s voting machines somehow rigged the 2020 election.

Now that Tucker Carlson is out, more ad revenue is coming in. Fox News has seen an increase in advertisers wanting to sponsor products during the 8 pm timeslot that Carlson once inhabited. Fox News Tonight, the show that plays there now, appears friendlier to a wider demographic. Tucker Carlson was a paradox. His opinions made him extremely popular among alt-right conservatives, and very specific advertisers...

In Jan. 2021, Tucker Carlson told a Fox News colleague that he hated Donald Trump “passionately.” But less than two months earlier he was singing a dramatically different tune, newly leaked texts reveal.

In an exchange with his senior producer, obtained by the Daily Beast, the recently fired host was so upset about the unusually negative coverage Fox was giving Trump that he said he was “happy to start threating people” to make it stop.

The text exchange happened Nov. 19, 2020, as Fox News was suffering a severe drop in ratings caused by the exodus of viewers angry that it had accurately called the election for Joe Biden and then — temporarily — refused to support Trump’s constant lying about the loss.

The day before, Fox had published this story about Trump’s decision to hold the annual presidential “pardon” of a turkey. The article’s opening paragraph noted this was happening, “despite...

A leading conservative pundit is planning to bring his controversial views to Twitter. Two weeks after his dismissal from Fox News, talk show host Tucker Carlson took to Elon Musk‘s social media platform to announce the impending arrival of a “new version” of his program.

Carlson revealed his intentions in a three-minute video, which he shared on his personal Twitter account. After breaking up with his former employer, Carlson called out Fox News and other English-language media organizations, which he believes are incapable of telling complete, truthful stories.

The exception to that opinion, in Carlson’s eyes, is Twitter. “Amazingly, as of tonight, there aren’t many platforms left that allow free speech,” he said in his video update. “The last big one remaining in the world — the only one — is Twitter. Twitter has long served as the place where our national conversation incubates and develops.”

We’re back.

Tucker Carlson is bringing a new version of his defunct TV show to Twitter, after being unexpectedly fired from Fox News last month.

Carlson, 53, took to Twitter on Tuesday to share the news in a lengthy video, in which he claims that mainstream media outlets are all “thinly disguised propaganda outlets.”

“Starting soon, we’ll be bringing a new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter. We’ll be bringing some other things too, which we’ll tell you about,” Carlson announced in the clip. “For now, we’re just grateful to be here.”

“Free speech is the main right that you have. Without it, you have no others.” Carlson concludes the message. “See you soon.”

In the video, Carlson seemingly addresses his termination, claiming, “The most you can hope for in the news business at this point is...

Former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson said Tuesday that the show he hosted for six-and-a-half years, then was fired from, will continue on Twitter.

The ousted anchor announced the move in a nearly three-minute-long video posted to the social media site.

More from TVLineFox News 8 pm Viewership Down Sharply Since Tucker Carlson's OusterTucker Carlson Breaks Silence in Bizarre Fashion After Fox News Firing -- WatchLate-Night Hosts React to Tucker Carlson's Fox News Exit: 'What an Absolutely Delightful Shock This Is'

We’re back. pic.twitter.com/sG5t9gr60O

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) May 9, 2023

Later on Tuesday, Twitter CEO Elon Musk...

Tucker Carlson announced that he will bring a version of his Fox News show — which he lost after getting fired last month — on Twitter, the social platform owned by Elon Musk.

“Starting soon, we’ll be bringing a new version of the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter,” Carlson said in a video shared Tuesday on the platform. “Free speech is the main right you have. Without it, you have no others.”

According to Musk, Twitter does not have a deal with Carlson. “[W]e have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever. Tucker is subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators,” Musk tweeted Tuesday.

Before Carlson was fired, the Twitter CEO appeared on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” for a two-night interview on Fox News (on April 17 and 18). Among other topics, their discussion covered the implications of AI and...

Tucker Carlson is out at 8 p.m. on Fox News Channel, and the network hopes that a host of blue-chip advertisers that for years avoided his controversial hour will soon come back in.

Since Carlson’s stunning exit last month, a timeslot that has been shunned by many Madison Avenue stalwarts seems as if it is being embraced. Procter & Gamble, one of the nation’s largest and most influential advertisers, has been running ads in “Fox News Tonight,” the network’s new 8 p.m. program, for female-skewing products like Venus razor blades by Gillette and Secret underarm deodorant. Also showing up in commercial breaks: Novo Nordisk’s trendy medication Ozempic, and Scotts Miracle-Gro.

“We have had over 40 new advertisers come into the hour since we launched the new program, including some of the largest in the country and, really, across all major categories,” says Jeff Collins, executive vice president...

Fox News is still holding tryouts for the 8 p.m. time slot left vacant when it fired Tucker Carlson last month. And the latest conservative media star to get a shot at what used to be the network’s most valuable primetime real estate is former Trump press secretary, and current Fox News host, Kayleigh McEnany.

McEnany will anchor the 8-9 p.m. hour for at least a week, starting Monday, May 8. It could go longer, as she’s slated to host the time slot for at least a week, TheWrap has confirmed.

Shortly after the news became public, McEnany tweeted, “I am honored to share that I will be hosting Fox News Tonight on @FoxNews at 8pm Et all next week (5/8-5/12)! Set your DVR. Please join me next week as we dig into the state of politics, media, culture, and faith in America!”

Also Read:

Tucker Carlson’s Racist Texts,...

The on-air auditions to be Tucker Carlson’s replacement now are drawing from Donald Trump’s White House.

Former Press Secretary and Trump 2020 spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany will be taking over the fired Carlson’s 8 Pm Et slot next week. It’s the third such replacement for the Rupert Murdoch-owned cable newser’s most watched host in as many weeks. Fox News is trying to crawl out of the ratings crater its primetime has been in since the Tucker Carlson Tonight frontman was unceremoniously shown the door on April 24, soon after the channel settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787.5 million over false 2020 election claims.

Having shifted from the GOP-operative crowd to cable news to the former Celebrity Apprentice host’s inner circle for the last year of his administration and back to Fnc commentary and Outnumbered co-host gigs over her career, McEnany will take over the slot...

Joy Reid is a longtime critic of fired Fox News star Tucker Carlson, so it’s no shock that on Wednesday, she took some time at the top of her MSNBC show to talk about the latest bombshell revelation about him: A leaked text in which Carlson used a racist phrase and admitted to fantasizing about violence against his political enemies.

Mockingly addressing Carlson directly, Reid said, “it turns out you really are as repulsively racist as the guy that you once played on TV.”

But, she reminded viewers, the reveal shouldn’t come as a surprise, as Carlson’s “odd, 19th century eugenics talk” was heavily featured on a program she called, “the show of record for white grievance.”

Also Read:

Tucker Carlson’s Racist Texts, ‘Creepy Comments’ and Trash-Talk Videos: Somebody’s Got the Knives Out, But Who?

For context, on Tuesday night, the New York Times published...

A text message obtained by The New York Times shows Tucker Carlson describing a video depicting a “group of Trump guys” beating an “Antifa kid,” and stating that “It’s not how white men fight.”

The message, discovered on the eve of the jury trial for Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox News, reportedly led to the abrupt firing of Carlson — who hawked racist rhetoric on his show Tucker Carlson Tonight for years.

The former host reportedly sent the message on Jan. 7, 2021 to one of his producers after Trump...

After giving one of the last interviews Tucker Carlson would air before his unceremonious firing by Fox News, and a surprise sit-down with a BBC reporter, Elon Musk graced the studio of HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher to further discuss his recent ups and downs as head of Twitter. Their conversation, which aired on Friday night, included a strained discussion of the imaginary “woke mind virus” that both men worry is ruining younger generations.

On @billmaher show tonight

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 28, 2023

Maher introduced Musk as “the man...

Tech billionaire Elon Musk appeared for a conversation on “Real Time With Bill Maher” on Friday.

Musk, who purchased Twitter last year, discussed with the host his acquisition of the company, free speech, censorship and what he calls the “woke mind virus.”

“I think we need to be very cautious about anything that is anti-meritocratic and anything that results in the suppression of free speech,” Musk said to Maher. “So those are two of the aspects of the ‘woke mind virus’ that I think are very dangerous…. you can’t question things, even the questioning is bad. Almost synonymous would be cancel culture. And obviously people have tried to cancel you many times.”

Maher responded, “And it’s interesting, you and I are both in that little group of people, maybe it’s a bigger group now, who are called conservative who haven’t really changed. I don’t think of you as a conservative.

Megyn Kelly said that without Tucker Carlson, who was abruptly fired from Fox News on Monday, the conservative network is in a “downward spiral” and that without its biggest star, we really “don’t need Fox anymore.”

Brian Kilmeade stepped in Monday as the slot’s first guest anchor, and ratings since then have continued to plummet, which Kelly pointed out in her Friday SiriusXM show.

“Fox News is in a downward spiral that they’re going to have to claw to get themselves out of. This is an existential crisis for the channel and its primetime, which is how they make money… They live off of their primetime and the food has dried up,” she said.

“You don’t need Fox anymore,” continued Kelly, who left Fox News in 2017. “They’re not the monopoly in conservative media that they used to be – they’re just not. And so you take away the unique voice,...

Fox News viewership in the 8 pm hour is thus far down at least 50% since Tucker Carlson’s ouster was announced on Monday and his eponymous primetime hour was in turn replaced with Fox News Tonight.

What turned out to be the series finale of Tucker Carlson Tonight last Friday drew 2.7 million viewers, whereas Fox News Tonight — which this week has been hosted by Brian Kilmeade — at last count drew 1.33 million viewers.

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Abby Grossberg, the Fox News producer suing her former employer over claims she was pressured to provide misleading testimony in the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit, has spilled more details about the emotional toll of working for Tucker Carlson.

In an interview on NPR’s “Morning Edition,” Grossberg revealed that the “antisemitism and the bullying and the gaslighting and the misogyny” of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” eventually let to her calling a crisis hotline.

“I was in tears, beside myself, talking to my best friend on the phone, whom I’ve known for 20 years, somebody who would never describe me as an anxious person, a sad person, a depressed person. He recommended that I call a crisis hotline. And I did,” Grossberg said. Calling the hotline was something Grossberg had never considered before. “It really shows me that bullying can tear anybody apart when it’s done systematically and routinely.”

Earlier this year,...

Jimmy Kimmel found yet more reasons to mock Tucker Carlson during his monologue on Thursday night, this time by recalling all of the TV jobs Carlson has also been fired from throughout his career.

Yes, Carlson was fired by Fox News on Monday. But before that he was fired by MSNBC, before that by PBS, and before that by CNN. And Kimmel joked that means he’s won the “Egot of cable news.”

“It’s easy to forget how much Tucker Carlson have accomplished over his career. He’s been fired by Fox, CNN, MSNBC and PBS. That’s like the Egot of cable news,” Kimmel said. “That’s called the Egot fired – is what it is.”

Kimmel added, “I forgot he got fired by PBS. He called Big Bird a gay chicken, and they had to let him go.”

Of course, we still don’t know why Fox canned Carlson.

When Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade signed on Monday night to fill in for the defunct “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” some combination of curiosity, lead-in and brand strength kept the network’s total viewers numbers in a dead heat with Carlson’s last show the Friday before.

But boy, what a difference a couple of days makes: While the 8 p.m. hour got 2.59 million total viewers on average on Monday, viewership dropped to 1.7 million viewers on Tuesday, and slid further to 1.33 million total viewers on Wednesday, falling just behind MSNBC in that time-slot, according to Nielsen live plus same-day figures.

Trend-wise, it’s ugly: That’s a 34% Monday-to-Tuesday drop, with another 22% slide from Tuesday’s numbers on Wednesday night. Comparing Monday to Wednesday, average total viewership evaporated by half.

It’s not hugely surprising, and certainly not a disaster for Fox News, which on its worst of nights is still the most-watched network in cable news.

MSNBC’s All In With Chris Hayes topped the 8 p.m. Et time slot on Wednesday night, a ratings win for a Fox News rival following the departure of Tucker Carlson.

Hayes’ show drew 1.38 million viewers, edging out Fox News Tonight with 1.33 million and CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 with 643,000. In the 25-54 demo, All In had 167,000, compared to 139,000 for AC360 and 124,000 for Fox News Tonight.

Tucker Carlson Tonight had consistently dominated the time period and was the most viewed show in cable news last month. It averaged 3.25 million viewers in March.

After his exit on Monday, Fox News launched Fox News Tonight, designed to feature a rotating series of hosts until a permanent successor is named. Brian Kilmeade has been hosting this week. The audience has fallen off from the start of the week.

The top ratings for Hayes’ show may be due to audiences on the right going elsewhere.

Tucker Carlson has issued a statement for the first time since his abrupt exit from Fox News on Monday, April 24, promising his supporters that he will “see them soon.” Taking to Twitter on Wednesday, April 26, the long-time news anchor shared a video, saying, “One of the first things you realize, when you step outside the noise for a few days, is how many genuinely nice people there are in this country. Kind and decent people, people who really care about what’s true. And a bunch of hilarious people, also. A lot of those. It’s gotta be the majority of the population, even now. So that’s heartening.” Carlson, who had hosted Fox News’ flagship series Tucker Carlson Tonight since 2016, parted ways with the network on Monday in what was said to be an “agreed” upon decision. The show was replaced on Monday by Fox News Tonight, hosted by Brian Kilmeade,...

Seth Meyers took on the cable news breakup between former host Tucker Carlson and Fox during Wednesday’s “Closer Look” segment.

The late-night host pointed to a Rolling Stone report on a dossier of alleged dirt on Carlson should their former employee attack the network in the wake of his exit. “Holy Shit!” Meyers said in response to the story, while commenting, “[Carlson’s] own employer was collecting dirt on him.”

“I can’t imagine if NBC ever did that to me. ‘Hey Meyers, you better watch out. We got a picture...

Tucker Carlson has broken his silence since Monday’s surprise announcement that he was fired from Fox News.

In a more-than-two-minute video posted to his Twitter, the former host of Tucker Carlson Tonight began by saying that stepping “outside the noise for a few days” has shown him “how many genuinely nice people there are in this country.”

“Kind and decent people, people who really care about what’s true and a bunch of hilarious people also — a lot of those,” he said. “It’s got to be the majority of the population, even now. So that’s heartening.”

Carlson also said he’s noticed how “unbelievably stupid” most of the debates on television are. He went on to say that they’re irrelevant and mean nothing, noting that five years from now, people won’t even remember seeing those debates.

“Trust me, as someone who’s participated. And yet,...

On Wednesday, Tucker Carlson made his first public statement since his abrupt exit from Fox News two days earlier.

In a roughly two-minute video posted to his Twitter feed, Carlson references how he’s stepped “outside the noise for a few days.” He then speaks for a while about “how unbelievably stupid most of the debates you see on television are. They’re completely irrelevant. They mean nothing.” He continues in that vein for a while.

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