Tucker Carlson, who is still under contract with Fox News, announced on Twitter that he will begin a new show on the platform, indicating that negotiations for an amicable separation from the network may have broken down.
While Mr. Carlson gave no details regarding when his new program would begin or what type of content it would have, many uncertainties now surround his future since he would be deprived of a prime-time platform on Fox News. Fox may eventually prevent the host from returning to a prominent role in conservative media.
The Fox Corporation has been negotiating the details of Mr. Carlson’s exit from the network since he was taken off the air last month. A person familiar with the matter disclosed that Mr. Carlson had a discussion with Fox Corporation Executive Chairman, Lachlan Murdoch, on Monday to discuss the potential exit from the company.
Mr. Carlson’s Twitter remarks on Tuesday consisted of a three-minute monologue delivered directly to the camera, which could violate the terms of his Fox contract preventing him from hosting a show on another network.
An entertainment lawyer at Foley & Lardner, Andy Lee, commented that one way Fox could prevent Mr. Carlson from posting new videos would be to seek an injunction. Still, it would have to persuade a judge that Mr. Carlson was doing irreparable harm to the network, such as by damaging its reputation or disclosing sensitive information. Mr. Carlson would likely argue that his Twitter videos were protected under the First Amendment.
Mr. Carlson began the monologue on Tuesday with a critique of the news industry, which he said was incapable of telling the truth. And he appeared to issue a veiled threat to disclose what he’d learned about the inner workings of the various media companies where he held various roles over the course of three decades.
Mr. Carlson offered little explanation of what his new show might entail in the video, saying only that it would resemble “the show we’ve been doing for the last six and a half years,” a reference to his 8 p.m. Fox News program, “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
Mr. Carlson said that “free speech” would be a major theme of the show, calling it “the main right you have.” “When more than 30 years in the middle of it, we could tell you stories,” Mr. Carlson said, who recorded the video from his studio in Maine.
Last October, when Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion, he said he was protecting “free speech” and would reverse many of the content moderation decisions made by the company that he believed had become too left-leaning.
He welcomed back many previously suspended or banned users, including known white nationalist accounts. Researchers reported more hate speech on the site, and many advertisers left.
Last month, Mr. Musk went on Mr. Carlson’s Fox show to discuss his ownership of Twitter. He noted the financial pressures on the company, saying he had just halved the internal valuation to about $20 billion.
“But some things are priceless,” Mr. Musk said, “And so whether I lose money or not, that is a secondary issue compared to ensuring the strength of democracy, and free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy.”
Mr. Carlson’s personal text messages were released as part of a defamation case involving Dominion Voting Systems, a major source of embarrassment for Fox News.
In the court documents, Mr. Carlson was revealed to have disparaged former President Donald J. Trump as “a demonic force” and a “destroyer.” He also described how he had recently watched a video of a group of men beating up an “Antifa kid.” “It’s not how white men fight,” he wrote to one of his producers, in an expression of racial superiority.
