Fox News boss billionaire Rupert Murdoch is coming under fire for a recent string of erratic decisions that ended with the shocking firing of Fox News star Tucker Carlson.
Fox News has not explained the Tucker decision other than to issue a two-sentence statement thanking Tucker for his service. The rumors are flying as to why Fox would dump its cash cow with most arguing it has to do with a lawsuit filed by an ex-Fox News producer.
But a man with close ties to the Murdoch empire is floating a more serious reason for Tucker’s dismissal in Vanity Fair, that Rupert Murdoch is showing his age. The 92-year-old billionaire just broke a two-week engagement to ex-fiancée Ann Lesley Smith.
This came right after he shocked his wife, Jerry Hall, with a surprise divorce.
Gabe Sherman writes that that weird decision “is part of a string of erratic decisions he has made of late that raises questions about Murdoch’s leadership of his media empire.
“According to sources, executives at Fox are worried about Murdoch’s unsteady hand at the wheel of the company.
“’It’s like the King is senile but no one wants to say anything,’ the source said.
“According to two sources, Fox settled with Dominion moments before the trial was set to begin because Fox’s lawyers didn’t want Murdoch to testify in public.
“They were hoping and praying to settle for months, but they didn’t want to pay up,” the second source said.
“Once the trial began, the lawyers told Fox execs that Murdoch would be ‘disgraced on the stand, run out of the boardroom, and his testimony will expose him as a lunatic sliding into senility.’
“The person close to Murdoch disputed this. ‘Rupert was very well prepared to testify,’” Sherman writes.
My latest on the Tucker Carlson mysteryhttps://t.co/ZfTgCGToZ5
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) April 25, 2023
Also in my latest: Sources said Fox settled Dominion suit because Fox lawyers did NOT want 92-year-old Rupert to testify bc it would have revealed he’s a “lunatic sliding into senility.”https://t.co/ZfTgCGToZ5
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) April 25, 2023
FLASHBACK: Rupert’s fiancée Ann Lesley Smith said “Tucker Carlson is a messenger from God, and he said nope,” the source said.https://t.co/b4IiCpPFmN
— Gabriel Sherman (@gabrielsherman) April 24, 2023
