The explosive news of Tucker Carlson’s firing from Fox News came as a surprise to many, including some of his biggest fans: propagandists who are shilling for the Kremlin on Russian state TV.
During Monday’s broadcast of The Evening With Vladimir Solovyov, state TV propagandists discussed the best ways for Russia to attack America on its own turf, citing internal divisions and conflicts as an opening that should be continually probed and exploited. This conversation naturally led to Russia’s favorite U.S. TV host, Tucker Carlson, whose contribution to deepening divisions and undermining faith in American institutions has been of unparalleled value to the Kremlin.
Americanist Dmitry Drobnitsky gasped: “Our beloved Tucker Carlson has been fired, it’s a disgrace!” Host Vladimir Solovyov chimed in: “It’s a total outrage!”
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Solovyov jumped in to claim there is something fishy about Carlson being fired one day before U.S. President Joe Biden was to announce his plan to run for re-election. Drobnitsky disagreed and speculated that there was another reason for the notorious host’s firing by Fox News: “The main issue is that he started to discuss, in harsh terms, all of the goals that the liberal establishment is pursuing abroad.”
Staring into the camera, Solovyov urged: “Tucker, come work with us! Solovyov Live is waiting for you, Tucker!” Earlier the same day, RT and Solovyov Live offered Carlson a job, on Twitter and Telegram respectively.
During his evening show, Solovyov proclaimed: “Freedom to Tucker Carlson!” Drobnitsky noted that the American host is not in prison, but Solovyov worried out loud that this might be exactly what’s coming next: “They’ll throw him in prison, wait and see.”
Drobnitsky and Solovyov jointly pondered what Russia should do in response, proposing that Russia, China and Saudi Arabia impose sanctions against all persons responsible for Carlson’s sudden dismissal. “The rules-based world doesn’t suit us, we’ll be building our own world and calling on all rational players to join us,” Drobnitsky said.
On Tuesday morning, co-host of 60 Minutes Olga Skabeeva said she had some “sad news” to report: “Fox News terminated their contract with one of the most prominent TV hosts in their history, our favorite, Tucker Carlson... He badmouthed Ukraine, calling it a corrupt black hole for American taxpayers and branding Zelensky a thief. Totally coincidentally, during the last several months, all of America’s mainstream media accused Tucker of disinformation, of working for Putin and for the Kremlin.”
She added, sarcastically, “It seems like the patience of his higher-ups at Fox has run out and democracy prevailed, yet again.”
This love affair hasn’t just begun. In recent years, clips of Tucker Carlson’s shows have become an everyday occurrence on Russian state television. In 2020, Evgeny Popov, the host of Russia’s state television program 60 Minutes, lovingly described Carlson as “practically our co-host.” In 2022, co-host Olga Skabeeva said, “Our acquaintance, the host of Fox News Tucker Carlson, obviously has his own interests—but lately, more and more often, they're in tune with our own." This convergence of interests prompted RT’s editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan to plead for “wonderful” Carlson to get his wish of interviewing Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, this coverage intensified, with some programs translating and broadcasting multiple highlights not only of Carlson’s own monologues, but also the anti-Ukrainian commentary of his recurring guests. Tucker’s stance was so explicit that it prompted Solovyov to say: "I wonder how long it will take before Tucker Carlson is put into prison as a Russian agent."
Russian state TV welcomed Carlson’s accusations against the U.S. for allegedly blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline and embraced his suggestion that Moscow may opt to cut the undersea internet cables. Russian propagandists were also in total agreement with “colleague” Carlson about the arrest of Jack Teixeira, portraying him as a heroic whistleblower.
Carlson’s coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is seen in such favorable light that in discussing various ways of killing scores of Americans, state media propagandist Dmitry Drobnitsky noted: “In our country, we embraced one American we wouldn’t want to kill: that would be Tucker Carlson.”
Seemingly convinced she already knows the reasons for Carlson’s firing, head of RT Margarita Simonyan tweeted: “I’m not surprised that Tucker Carlson is leaving Fox, I’m surprised that he managed to stay there for so long.”
During his morning show on Tuesday, Solovyov reiterated his job offer: “Our channel, Solovyov Live, has offered a job to Tucker Carlson. We sent him an official invitation. Something tells me he won’t answer right away. Still, it seems like the only place where he can work is not the United States, but Russia.”
