Tucker Carlson still doesn’t know why he was let go from Fox News, but still wishes the conservative network well.
In the first interview after his shock firing on the same day CNN axed liberal firebrand Don Lemon, Carlson told comedian Russell Brand that it wasn’t the only time he’s been kicked off a news channel.
“I think in our business, when you work for a big company in media and you know, you say what you think, there’s an expectation that you could get fired,” Carlson said on the Friday episode of Brand’s Stay Free podcast.
He explained that the possibility of losing his job is always in the back of his mind, and he tries to take a “long view” on both life and the media.
Tucker Carlson discusses Jan. 6 with Russell Brand : "They are clearly lying."
Libs meltdown again 🤪
— 1776 (@TheWakeninq) July 7, 2023
“I was surprised — I didn’t expect to get fired that morning at all in April. So I was shocked, but I wasn’t really shocked and I wasn’t mad,” Carson said about the firing.
The conservative commentator recognized that the network has an inherent right to fire any employee, which can happen “when you work for someone else.”
Carlson did note that its now several months later and he still hasn’t been read in on why he was booted from Fox News, but didn’t hold that against them.
JUST IN: During an interview with Russell Brand, Tucker Carlson says he loves Donald Trump, specifically his stance on the war in Ukraine.
“Trump is the only person… who is saying: ‘Wait a second. You know, why are we supporting an endless war in Ukraine?’”
“All I can say at… pic.twitter.com/dTEbQvD27k
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 7, 2023
“I don’t know why I was fired. I really don’t. I’m not angry about it,” he remarked. “You can believe me or not, but I think you can feel that I’m not. You know, I wish Fox well.”
In the more than an hour interview, Carlson admitted to Brand that he made a “huge mistake” by wadding into politics last year.
“I mean, I made a huge mistake last November in getting involved in American politics — something I’ve never done before,” he revealed.
Carlson said that he “was wrong on almost every call” he made about the 2022 midterm elections.
“I’m not a very astute political analyst. I’m not interested in politics. I never have been interested in politics,” he detailed. “I’m interested in ideas. I’m interested in people.”
Tucker Carlson to Russell Brand
: "I’m not against immigrants … But the way that the United States is doing immigration is designed to wreck the country and to make it unstable"
— 1776 (@TheWakeninq) July 7, 2023
He addressed the Jan. 6 riot during the long ranging interview, saying that the “lying” surrounding the event was “immediate.”
Carlson told Brand that he was “interested” in the riot the moment it happened, not for the sake of his show, but because one of his children was working in the Capitol building at the time, near the area where Ashley Babbitt was shot by police.
He alleged that the only reason he got involved with the commenting on the incident was because “the lying about it was immediate.”
Carlson pointed out that legacy media and liberal politicians alike labeled the ordeal as a “a racist white supremacist insurrection.”
“[There] was no indication to this day that race had anything to do with it at all, like nothing,” he went on. “These were people who thought the election was stolen from them.”
“There’s some evidence they were right,” the former Fox News host added. “We could debate that but that’s what they thought.”
Carlson said that the Jan. 6 riot wasn’t an “insurrection,” just a “spasm of rage that Trump definitely helped inspire at the election results.”
NEW: Tucker Carlson tells Russell Brand that an interview he conducted with Chief of the Capitol Police, Steven Sund, told him the J6 "crowd was filled with federal agents."
Tucker was fired before the interview could air.
He says he will interview Sund again. pic.twitter.com/b0V75f62z1
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) July 7, 2023
“If you’ve got a big population in your country that doesn’t believe that your elections are on the level, you need to figure out a way to convince them that the elections are on the level or else you can’t have democracy because it’s a faith-based system,” he added.
The recent Twitter star also revealed that the Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told him the Capitol riot crowd was “filled” with federal agents.
Carlson revealed that he had interviewed Sund for Fox News, but was fired before their discussion was aired.
“Steven Sund was the totally non-political, worked for Nancy Pelosi, I mean, this was not some right-wing activist,” the conservative host explained.
“He said, ‘Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, that crowd was filled with federal agents.’ What? ‘Yes.’ Well he would know, of course, because he was in charge of security at the site.”
“So, the more time has passed … it becomes really obvious that core claims they made about January 6 were lies,” Carlson concluded.