According to the Epochtimes, in a recent episode of his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Joe Rogan shared his thoughts on Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox News. Rogan speculated about whether or not Fox News had a “no-compete” clause in Carlson’s contract to prevent him from moving to a competitor. He suggested that if he were in Fox News’ position, he would want to keep Carlson locked up for the entire term of his contract and pay him off rather than risk him joining a rival network.
Rogan was joined by comedian David Smith, who suggested that there may already be a clause in Carlson’s contract preventing him from speaking out for a certain amount of time. Rogan agreed, saying that Fox News was not stupid and that it was likely that they had taken precautions to prevent Carlson from leaving and potentially joining a rival network.
Although Rogan did not have any insider information about what led to Carlson’s departure, he speculated that Carlson is “designed for the internet” and will likely move to or create an independent platform. However, he quickly added that unless Fox News had paid Carlson off, he would be free to do whatever he wanted.
Since Carlson’s departure from Fox News, several conservative news networks, including Newsmax, The Blaze, and One America News Network (OAN), have expressed interest in hiring him. Megyn Kelly, a former Fox News host, suggested that Carlson might go the independent route, saying that he would no longer answer to a corporate master and would be free to say whatever he wanted within the bounds of defamation law.
Bill O’Reilly, a former Fox News host who left the network in 2017, said that Fox News had done Carlson a favor by ousting him and that he would likely go into the independent news or analysis industry. O’Reilly, who started his own independent news platform six years ago, said that Carlson was a talented broadcaster and that he would make a lot of money.
Rogan echoed similar sentiments to those of Elon Musk, who suggested that Twitter could be a platform where Carlson could prosper. Carlson has yet to reveal the circumstances surrounding his departure from Fox News and his future plans, but his departure has sparked speculation about what he might do next.
“If I was a person in a position of power and a wildcard like Tucker Carlson got released from Fox News and maybe Rumble makes a deal with him or something like that. Do you have any … idea how big that would be?” Rogan said during episode 1,977 of “The Joe Rogan Experience.”
“But, if I was Fox News, that’s the last thing I would want,” he added. “So I would make sure that we have him locked up for the entire term of some contract, some no-compete, and pay him off. You’d be better off just giving him the same amount of money he made when he was on the air than you would if he was opposing you.
I’m sure,” Rogan responded. “They’re smart. They’re not stupid,” he added, noting that it was “very shocking” to see Carlson leave.
