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Fox News has tapped weekend primetime host Lawrence Jones to temporarily replace Tucker Carlson’s evening slot on the network’s channel since giving Tucker the boot in late April, the Daily Mail reported.
Last week, shocking news broke that Carlson and Fox News were parting ways, although no reason was given as to why. Carlson was extremely popular on Fox and was well known for delivering rapid-fire monologues that challenged the cultural and mainstream narratives of the day.
According to the Daily Mail’s report, “Tucker Carlson Tonight” will be rebranded as “Fox News Tonight,” and Jones will be the youngest-ever solo black cable news television show host at just 30 years old.
While Jones hosting Carlson’s vacated spot may be promising for the network, it has been a rough ratings nosedive since the beloved commentator departed Fox. Per Forbes, only 1.7 million tuned into Fox News last week after Carlson’s departure – down from 3.3 million the week before when Tucker was hosting.
Interestingly, just two days after he left Fox, Carlson broke his silence and delivered a monologue on Twitter touching on the importance of speaking truth in America today. Less than a week later, the video has been seen on Twitter just shy of 80 million times – far eclipsing the reach of even the most popular Tucker Carlson Tonight timeslot.
To add insult to injury, RSBN reported that Fox News’ stock dropped almost $1 billion after Carlson’s exit from the network was announced last week, amounting to a five percent drop for Fox Corporation.
RSBN also revealed that Megyn Kelly claimed to have information about Carlson’s firing, alleging that Carlson had not officially been fired yet from the network.
Kelly said, “What happened was, Suzanne Scott called him, she’s the CEO, on Monday morning, and said he was not going to be allowed to do anymore shows and that he had been kicked out of his company email. And now they’re going to have to negotiate an exit…completely catching Tucker off guard. But Tucker’s not fired. That’s my information.”