But this theory is belied by the fact that Tucker's production team was taken entirely by surprise by the news. For instance, I received the following text message from Scooter Downey, a producer of Tucker Carlson Originals, in response to my query after the announcement: "No idea what's going on. Crazy!"

Bill O'Reilly, who hosted The O'Reilly Factor, which appeared in the same time slot as Tucker Carlson Tonight, remarked that Tucker and his staff were blind-sided by the decision. "They were putting together tonight's, Monday night's program," O'Reilly claimed. "They were actively involved with making the rundown as all of us do who go on television each night to talk to you. In the middle of that, boom. Tucker Carlson is history at the Fox News show. That's how fast it came."

The other major explanation given for Tucker's separation from Fox has to do with the settlement of the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit. But the suit was filed in March of 2021 and Tucker wasn't dismissed until April 24, 2023. Dominion demanded $1.6 billion and settled for $787.5 million. Tucker's dismissal from Fox was not a condition of the settlement.