15 months after his firing, Tucker Carlson returns to Fox News airwaves with a GOP convention speech

NEW YORK (AP) — Tucker Carlson returned to Fox News’ airwaves 15 months after being unceremoniously fired, seen Thursday in its coverage of a Republican National Convention speech that highlighted his growing influence in Donald Trump’s world.

Carlson called the Republican nominee to return as president a changed man who effectively “became the leader of this nation” following last Saturday’s assassination attempt.

His 11-minute speech in Milwaukee also highlighted changes in the media personality, who had said privately following the 2020 election that he “truly can’t wait” to ignore Trump. Before being given the prime-time role on the convention’s climactic night, he’d been seen throughout the convention and reportedly lobbied Trump to select Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate.

Fox News aired Carlson’s speech in prime time, during the same hour he had once ruled as cable television news’ most popular personality. CNN and MSNBC did not carry it.

“That was Tucker Carlson,” his Fox replacement, Jesse Watters, said. “You may remember him from the 8 o’clock hour here.”

How Carlson has fared in recent months

Carlson was fired a week after Fox agreed to pay more than $787 million to settle a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems over false statements the network made about the company following the 2020 election. The network never explained why it ousted Carlson, sparking a cottage industry of theories about why the Rupert Murdoch-founded network pulled the plug.

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