Claim: Tucker Carlson Tried to Get Fox Hatchet-Woman Irena Briganti Fired

Not sure if I believe this Rolling Stone "scoop," but I guess it's worth the link.

This incident supposedly happened in the spring of 2020. Seems like an awfully long time for plotting vengeance.

The claim is that Tucker's attempt to get the venomous hag ousted reduced his "goodwill" among the Fox executive class, and ultimately led to his firing.

In the spring of 2020, Tucker Carlson went to war with one of Fox News' most powerful figures.

Carlson had grown so furious with Fox's communications and PR chief, Irena Briganti, that he attempted to get her fired, people familiar with the matter tell Rolling Stone. Briganti, formerly a key lieutenant to the late, disgraced Fox News mastermind Roger Ailes, had been an influential figure in the cable-news industry for years, as an infamously aggressive enforcer within Fox's public-relations apparatus.

But after years of mutual antipathy between the executive and the high-profile host, Carlson attempted to force her out. The sources say Carlson made his case to Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott, Fox's chief legal officer Viet Dinh, Murdoch family heir and Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan Murdoch, and even other Fox News personalities such as Sean Hannity.

In pleading his case, Carlson argued Briganti spent too much time badgering on-air talent and the channel's personnel; that she was generally incompetent and mean-spirited; and that she regularly engaged in dirty tricks against him and other hosts and contributors, when her job was ostensibly to protect them. One current Fox source with knowledge of the matter described the Carlson-Briganti feud as an intra-network "death match."

"I do know that he was telling [Fox executives] that [Briganti] should be fucking fired," a former Fox News commentator tells Rolling Stone. "She's terrible. He was very bold there."

But despite Carlson's high ratings, influence in Republican political circles, and hyper-devoted fan base, he lacked the juice to oust Briganti. Her ties to other top executives were too tight for Carlson to overcome. In some cases, executives laughed off Carlson's attempt to get Briganti fired, assuring him and others that Briganti was not going anywhere anytime soon.

Word of Carlson's attempt to get her fired got back to Briganti, exacerbating an already terrible relationship. Briganti "hates all the talent," the former Fox News commentator says. "She was so disgusted by the level of fucked up idiots who work there, in her opinion, and had to clean up their messes and their overblown egos."

From what I hear of her behavior, yes, she hates the talent, particularly the conservative talent, and seems to delight in hurting them and making them afraid.

More importantly for Carlson, the failed attempt to oust Briganti helped erode his goodwill among the Fox News executive class.

"He really thought he was going to make a change, and I kind of shook my head," says a different former Fox News talent. "It was such a terrible idea. It was such a clear suicide mission ... But then again at the time I guess he thought he was big enough to do anything."

If we've learned anything the past ten years, surely we've all learned: Always Trust Content From Rolling Stone.

So if I had to guess: The anecdote is probably true. The fact that Tucker Carlson is calling her the c-word and also announcing he's proud to have called her that certainly makes it plausible that he would have attempted to take her out.

But Rolling Stone's efforts to tie it into the recent newsworthy event of Tucker's firing is false, and just more Rolling Stone bullshit. It's just so long ago, and it concerns a second-tier executive, it seems very unlikely this has anything to do with Carlson's firing, even indirectly.

It would provide some context for the firing, though.

Megyn Kelly seems to agree that Fox executives absolutely despise their audience. And therefore, I guess, they despise anyone their audience likes.

Update: Leaked video of Fox producers demanding he wear a sweater for his Andrew Tate interview.

posted by Ace at 12:03 PM

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