According to Gateway Pundit, FOX News, one of the biggest news channels in the United States, has recently faced a significant drop in viewership after firing their top-rated host, Tucker Carlson. The decision was announced on Monday and within two days, FOX News had already lost nearly half of its audience during Carlson’s 8 PM time slot. Prior to his firing, Carlson was averaging 3.2 million viewers, but on Tuesday, FOX News had only 1.7 million viewers at 8 PM. The channel’s audience continued to decrease, and by Friday, it had sunk to 1.33 million viewers at 8 PM, down from 3 million just a week prior. In an effort to stop the bleeding, FOX Corp has announced that Brian Kilmeade, another one of its hosts, will be replaced next week.
Following his failed stint on Tucker Carlson, Brian Kilmeade told reporters that FOX News did not need to change its format to make Steve Bannon happy. Kilmeade made the comment during an appearance on The Other Side of Midnight, where he attacked Bannon and the War Room posse. Host Frank Morano asked Kilmeade about the future of FOX News and its viewership going forward, given the recent events. Kilmeade responded by stating that the channel was just as strong as ever, and that it did not need to curtail its format to make Bannon happy.
Kilmeade also took the opportunity to defend Tucker Carlson and the other hosts on FOX News, stating that they had not changed and that they were all still thought leaders in their respective areas. He praised the producers at FOX News and their ability to create top-rated shows, claiming that each producing team was like its own franchise. Kilmeade went on to criticize Bannon and others who had been attacking FOX News, claiming that they could not run the network and that nobody told hosts like Tucker Carlson or himself what to do. Despite the recent drop in viewership, Kilmeade remained confident that FOX News would continue to be the number one show for years to come.
FRANK MORANO (HOST): A lot of folks are wondering what this portends for the future of Fox News Channel. You have a lot of folks, folks like Steve Bannon and others, basically declaring war on Fox and saying if you watch Fox, you’re part of the enemy. Where do you think this whole episode leaves Fox News and its viewership going forward?
BRIAN KILMEADE (FOX NEWS HOST): Just as strong as ever. I mean, put it this way. I mean, did Sean Hannity change? Did Laura Ingraham change? Did Bret Baier change? Did The Five, the No. 1 show in all of television, change? Did Neil Cavuto change? I mean, what are you talking about? Tucker’s very different. He’s the original thought leader. I’m with his team now. They’re unbelievable in terms of producers. You’ve got a great producing team here. Anyone, Frank, if you’re ever out, someone’s going to walk in and there’s going to be a machine to help them out if you’re ever out. So every producing team of literally their own franchise. You know, for Steve Bannon to come out and criticize Fox, really? This guy got, I guess, fired from the Trump administration and then I hooked up with another writer and just ripped Trump from limb to limb? Then he gets himself in legal trouble and Trump pardons him, and now he’s a Trump loyalist. So, to me, I don’t know what they’re talking about. These are a bunch of people who think they can run this network and they can’t. And one thing I will tell you, nobody’s telling — all those names I just ran through, nobody tells Tucker what to do. No one tells us what to do. No one — Fox & Friends, three hours in the morning, three hour radio show, you know, something goes wrong, we have media relations call and say, “What happened?” That’s about it. So it’s the No. 1 show for 25 years. And I don’t think we have to curtail our format to make Steve Bannon happy.
