Jesse Watters will take over Tucker Carlson‘s primetime time slot at Fox News.
Carlson was ousted from the network effective immediately on April 24, and his show, Tucker Carlson Tonight, was simultaneously canceled. Fox News Tonight replaced Carlson’s spot, with former Trump aide Kayleigh McEnany temporarily hosting in May.
Jesse Watters Primetime will move into the 8/7c time on the Fox News Channel starting Monday, July 17. Laura Ingraham‘s The Ingraham Angle is also moving up in the conservative network’s nightly lineup from 10/9c to 7/6c. Hannity will remain at 9/8c and Gutfeld! will move to 10/9c. FOX News @ Night with Trace Gallagher will move up one hour to 11/10c. Gutfeld is the only late-night talk show that’s still airing new episodes during the WGA writers strike. All of the other late-night titles have been airing reruns in solidarity with the striking writers.
Jesse Watters Primetime is a nightly opinion program that launched in 2022. In its 18 months on air, the cable program has become the most-watched news program during the 7 p.m. hour in cable news history. Watters is also a co-host on The Five, a late-afternoon panelist program co-hosted by conservative panelists Jeanine Pirro, Jesse Watters, Dana Perino, and Greg Gutfeld and one liberal panelist.
Geraldo Rivera, Jessica Tarlov, and Harold Ford Jr. have been rotating as co-hosts since 2021. Rivera announced on Wednesday, June 21 that he was leaving The Five after June 30, citing “growing tension that goes beyond editorial differences and personal annoyances and gripes” as his reason for leaving.
Carlson’s firing came swiftly after Fox News settled a defamation lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems that cited Carlson’s 2020 election lies. Fox News paid around $800 million in the settlement.
Carlson then took his show to Twitter, with Tucker on Twitter debuting on June 6. But Fox hit him with a cease and desist letter shortly after, given it violates his contract with the network that’s still in effect through 2024. As part of that contract, Carlson is still being paid by Fox News.
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