WASHINGTON — Tucker Carlson, the popular and controversial primetime host, is leaving Fox News, effective immediately.
FOX News Media announced the split in a statement Monday, confirming that Carlson's last show was on Friday, April 21.
His timeslot will become an interim show hosted by a rotating cast of Fox personalities until a new host is announced, the network said.
Carlson's Twitter page hasn't posted any new content since April 21, and the page for his show, Tucker Carlson Today, has been dark since April 18, three days before his last show. As of noon Eastern, Carlson has not made a public statement about the split with Fox, and details about his future projects were unknown Monday.
In what would end up being his last show with Fox, Carlson didn't indicate in any way that he wouldn't be returning after it aired. He ended the Friday show on a high note, joking with one of his guests and eating pizza in the studio.
"We'll be back on Monday," Carlson said.
Yet on Monday night, viewers tuned in to morning anchor Brian Kilmeade, who said that Carlson was gone, “as you may have heard.”
“I wish Tucker the best,” Kilmeade said. “I'm great friends with Tucker and always will be.”
Then, he switched to a story on Hunter Biden, the president's son.
Carlson became Fox’s most popular personality after replacing Bill O’Reilly in Fox’s prime-time lineup in 2017.
“We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” the press release from the network said.
Meanwhile, CNN axed its own controversial anchor, Don Lemon, part of a one-day bloodletting in cable television news.
The news comes days after a settlement was reached between Fox and voting machine-maker Dominion for $787.5 million. Dominion sued because the network allowed guests and hosts, including Carlson, to make false claims about the security of the machines during the 2020 election.
Carlson was also recently named in a lawsuit by a former Fox producer who said the show had a cruel and misogynistic workplace.
Fox News agreed last week to pay Dominion Voting Systems nearly $800 million to avert a trial in the voting machine company's lawsuit.
The stunning settlement emerged just as opening statements were supposed to begin, abruptly ending a case that had embarrassed Fox News over several months. Carlson was expected to testify at the trial, alongside several top Fox executives.
“The truth matters. Lies have consequences,” Dominion lawyer Justin Nelson told reporters outside a Delaware courthouse after Superior Court Judge Eric Davis announced the deal.
It's unclear if Tucker leaving Fox is directly related to the lawsuit.
The primetime host has for years been a controversial figure and a hero to the far right, at times raising baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
After Republicans took control of the House in the 2022 midterm elections, newly elected Speaker Kevin McCarthy shared thousands of hours of security footage from the Jan. 6 attack with Carlson and his team, giving them a stunning level of access. The move was swiftly condemned by Democrats and other critics as essentially outsourcing House oversight to a TV personality who has promoted conspiracy theories about the attack.
Despite his frequent far-right rhetoric, Fox executives and the company as a whole have long been defenders of Carlson, who headlines their highest-rated show.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.