- Tucker Carlson took a dig at his former employer Fox News after it backpedaled on its "wannabe dictator" chyron.
- This week, Fox News labeled President Joe Biden a "wannabe dictator" in chyron text.
Ousted Fox News host Tucker Carlson took a shot at his former employer in a new episode of his Twitter show over the conservative cable news giant's reaction its own chyron text that labeled President Joe Biden a "wannabe dictator."
"Those words were up for less than 30 seconds, but the effect was immediate," Carlson said of the controversial Fox News chyron on his Twitter show on Thursday night.
Carlson claimed, "Inside Fox, the women who run the network panicked. First, they scolded the producer who put the banner on the screen. Less than 24 hours after that, he resigned."
—Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 15, 2023
Hours after former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to 37 federal charges related to his handling of classified documents, Fox News aired side-by-side footage of Trump and Biden with the onscreen text that read: "Wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested."
Fox News did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Insider on Friday, but said in a previous statement that "the chyron was taken down immediately and was addressed."
The "wannabe dictator" message was on-screen for 27 seconds, the website Mediaite reported.
The Daily Beast, citing two anonymous sources, reported that the person who authored the chyron was former "Tucker Carlson Tonight" managing editor Alexander McCaskill and that McCaskill parted ways with the network in the aftermath.
"He'd been at Fox for more than a decade. He was considered one of the most capable people in the building. He offered to stay for the customary two weeks, but Fox told him to clear out his desk and leave immediately. Then the company issued a public apology for the 27-second-long 'wannabe dictator' line," Carlson said on his Twitter show.
Carlson said that Fox News' statement on the matter "was not enough to save Fox News from the ensuing scandal."
When asked about the chyron this week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called it "wrong." Carlson referenced her comments on his Twitter show before suggesting in a sarcastic rant that Biden is actually a "wannabe dictator."
Meanwhile, Fox News recently sent Carlson a cease-and-desist letter over his new Twitter show called "Tucker on Twitter," Axios has reported.
Carlson was ousted from Fox News in late April, days after the network reached a $787 million settlement with Dominion Voting Systems in the voting machine company's defamation lawsuit.