A recent story asserts that Fox News’ decision to yank Tucker Carlson off the air was motivated by the settlement reached between the network and Dominion Voting Systems.

Dominion had filed a lawsuit against Fox News for its coverage of allegations made regarding the company’s machinery following the 2020 presidential election.

The lawsuit’s jury trial was scheduled to begin on Tuesday, April 18, and a $787.5 million settlement was revealed at that time. Less than a week later, on April 24, Carlson received word that his show had been canceled as he was getting ready for it that evening.

Initial conjecture connected the two occurrences because of their timing.

Variety reported that Fox News made an unspoken pledge to Dominion that Carlson would be fired.

Carlson learned the reason for the cancellation of his show on April 26 during a chat with a Fox News board member, according to “multiple sources with knowledge of the conversation,” according to Variety reporter Tatiana Siegel.

The unnamed board member informed Carlson that firing him was a requirement of the settlement; however, this information was not recorded in writing as part of the official court records.

According to the Variety report, Dominion allegedly warned Fox that the settlement would not be honored if it refused to fire Carlson and that Fox News would have to take its chances in a jury trial.

The report indicated Fox News wanted to avoid going to trial to avoid what the report called “more embarrassing details about the operation of Fox News and fallout from its 2020 president election coverage.”

According to Carlson’s understanding of the issue, Dominion intended to cause long-term harm to Fox News and believed that by censoring the network’s most popular program, the network would lose viewers.

“That condition was intended to hurt Fox, and Tucker is just collateral damage. Dominion wanted to punish Fox, and it’s working,” Siegel wrote, citing what she called “a source familiar with the matter.”

Dominion and Fox Corp. dispute the report’s contention.

“As the Fox principals who negotiated the settlement well know, Dominion made no demands about Tucker Carlson’s employment orally or in writing. Any claims otherwise are categorically false and a thinly veiled effort to further damage Dominion. Fox should take every effort to stop these lies immediately,” Dominion said in a statement.

Axios has also reported that a member of Fox’s board told Carlson the Dominion settlement was the reason he went off the air.

If the public reporting is accurate that Dominion Voting Systems demanded that Tucker Carlson be fired as part of a litigation settlement, then I am happy that Dominion does not operate in Texas, and I don’t think that they should do so in the future. We may disagree with other’s…

— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) May 13, 2023

According to Siegel’s article, Fox could suffer additional harm if it opposes Carlson’s plans to start his own show on Twitter, as he has promised to do.

According to a source cited in the report, Carlson would either file a lawsuit or “watch the network implode trying to challenge free speech.”

Carlson’s lawyers have already charged Fox with releasing a private video in an effort to harm Carlson’s reputation, which they claim exempts Carlson from any obligations under his contract with Fox. They contend that even though Fox is still paying Carlson, Carlson is free to strike off on his own.

According to Siegel’s story, there might be further text conversations from Fox’s hosts that disgrace the network if Carlson is sued by Fox. According to the article, some Fox anchors may have mentioned to Carlson directly or indirectly that when their contracts with Fox News expire, they want to follow him on Twitter.

Many other speculations have been put out because neither Fox News nor Carlson has publicly stated the reasons for sending Carlson into media limbo.

According to a New York Times article, Carlson’s dismissal from Fox News was the result of some personal reflections about violence and the divisions that characterize contemporary America.

Carlson reportedly claimed that he believed his show was canceled and that he was fired because the Murdoch family intended to sell Fox News, according to a report in Vanity Fair. The report referenced unnamed sources. Rupert Murdoch, the creator of Fox News, appointed his son Lachlan as the head of Fox Corp., the company that owns Fox News.

Rupert Murdoch allegedly wanted Carlson gone because the former presenter had publicly embraced religious ideas that coincided with those of Ann Lesley Smith, who had formerly been engaged to Murdoch, according to an article by Gabriel Sherman in Vanity Fair.