On Wednesday, Fox News' legal team sent a letter to former host Tucker Carlson's lawyers, warning that he had violated his contract by launching his own series on Twitter.
The letter, first obtained by Axios and verified by NBC, could signal potential legal action against Carlson, noting he "is in breach" of his contract.
"This evening we were made aware of Mr. Tucker Carlson’s appearance on Twitter in a video that lasted over 10 minutes," the letter reads, continuing to quote Carlson's contract, "Pursuant to the terms of the Agreement, Mr. Carlson’s 'services shall be completely exclusive to Fox.'"
It continues to say that Carlson's contract outlines that he is "prohibited from rendering services of any type whatsoever, whether 'over the internet via streaming or similar distribution, or other digital distribution whether now known or hereafter devised.'"
"In connection with such breach and pursuant to the Agreement, Fox expressly reserves all rights and remedies which are available to it at law or equity," the letter states.
Carlson's contract prohibits him from working with a direct competitor, but his lawyers argue that as a social media platform, Twitter does not fall under those provisions. Carlson's lawyer, Bryan Freedman, claimed in a statement to Axios that legal actions against Carlson would violate his first amendment rights.
"Fox defends its very existence on freedom of speech grounds. Now they want to take Tucker Carlson’s right to speak freely away from him because he took to social media to share his thoughts on current events," he said.
Carlson was fired from Fox News shortly after the network settled a defamation suit with Dominion Voting Systems for $787 million over Fox's claims that the company contributed to unproven voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Carlson was one such figure who made the claims, but his remarks were not explicitly stated to be the reason behind his firing.
Carlson's lawyer also argued that the network broke its deal to Carlson in the Dominion Voting Systems case, in which they promised not to settle the suit "in a way which would indicate wrongdoing" on Carlson's part.
