Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar - 5/9/23 Emergency Pod: Tucker Returns w/ New Show On Twitter As He Sues Fox News

Episode Date: May 9, 2023

Saagar reacts to the breaking news of Tucker Carlson's announcement that he will be doing a new show exclusively on Twitter as he sues Fox News.To become a Breaking Points Premium Member and watch/listen to the show uncut and 1 hour early visit: https://breakingpoints.supercast.com/To listen to Breaking Points as a podcast, check them out on Apple and SpotifyApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/breaking-points-with-krystal-and-saagar/id1570045623 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4Kbsy61zJSzPxNZZ3PKbXl Merch: https://breaking-points.myshopify.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. is irresponsible son, but I have DNA proof that could get the money back. Hold up. They could lose their family and millions of dollars? Yep. Find out how it ends by listening to the OK Storytime podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Camp Shane, one of America's longest running weight loss camps for kids, promised extraordinary results. But there were some dark truths behind Camp Shane's facade of happy, transformed children. Nothing about that camp was right. It was really actually like a horror movie. Enter Camp Shame, an eight-part series examining the rise and fall of Camp Shane and the culture that fueled its decades-long success. You can listen to all episodes of Camp Shame one week

early and totally ad-free on iHeart True Crime Plus. So don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts and subscribe today. and seeker of male validation. I'm also the girl behind Boy Sober, the movement that exploded in 2024. You might hear that term and think it's about celibacy, but to me, Boy Sober is about understanding yourself outside of sex and relationships. It's flexible, it's customizable, and it's a personal process.

Singleness is not a waiting room. You are actually at the party right now. Let me hear it. Listen to VoiceOver on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever Some big breaking news. Tucker Carlson is returning to the airwaves, but he's returning on Twitter in an interesting turn of events that comes in some big legal drama. Before we play you the video, we got to explain the context. One of the reasons that he is relaunching his show on Twitter, the news just broke, and let's go ahead and put it up there on

the screen. Tucker Carlson is now accusing Fox News of fraud and a contract breach. So what does that mean? The new letter sent by Tucker Carlson and his team is demanding legal action saying that Fox News violated the terms of Tucker Carlson's contract and arguing that the non-compete provision in his contract is no longer valid, freeing him to now launch his own competing show or media enterprise. He announced his show will be coming to Twitter and the Twitter platform exclusively, we believe. Currently, there is some speculation that the Twitter move would technically violate the Carlson contract, but the lawyers say that Fox actually is the one who breached the contract first. So, for example, the letter was sent by Brian Friedman to Fox's

lawyer and to their PR people, and also Rupert Murdoch himself. They say that Fox executives specifically have, quote, made material representations or promises to Carlson that were intentionally broken, constituting fraud. Also, they allege that Fox actually broke their agreement with Carlson to not leak his private communications to the media and to not use his private messages, quote, to take any adverse employment action against him. Basically, they are pointing to the leaked text messages from the redacted ones that only Fox is in possession of to the mainstream media, as well as multiple behind the scenes videos that clearly were leaked

by somebody with knowledge or, I guess, access to the Fox archives. I guess, you know, wonder who that would be. So what they say is that they believe that the access to the Fox archives. I guess, you know, wonder who that would be. So what they say is that they believe that the representations by the Fox executives amount to enough of a breach of contract, allowing him then to come in and to launch his show on Twitter. The launch is what happened just now, a couple of moments ago. We're going to go ahead and play the full video for you, which includes a denouncement of the mainstream media and an explanation of why Tucker is relaunching his show on Twitter specifically. Let's get to it. Hey, it's Tucker Carlson. You often hear people say the news is full of lies, but most of the time that's not exactly right.

Much of what you see on television or read the New York Times is in fact true in the literal sense. It could pass one of the media's own fact checks. Lawyers would be willing to sign off on it. In fact, they may have. But that doesn't make it true. It's not true. At the most basic level, the news you consume is a lie, a lie of the stealthiest and most insidious kind. Facts have been withheld on purpose, along with proportion and perspective. You are being manipulated. How does that work? Let's see. If I tell you that a man has been unjustly arrested for armed robbery, that is not, strictly speaking, a lie. He may have been framed. At this point, there's been no trial, so no one can really say. But if I don't mention the fact that the same man has been arrested for the same crime six times before, am I really

informing you? No, I'm not. I'm misleading you. And that's what the news media are doing in every story that matters every day of the week, every week of the year. What's it like to work in a system like that? After more than 30 years in the middle of it, we could tell you stories. The best you can hope for in the news business at this point is the freedom to tell the fullest truth that you can. But there are always limits. And you know that if you bump up against those limits often enough, you will be fired for it. That's not a guess. It's guaranteed. Every person who works in English language media understands that. The rule of what you can't say defines everything. It's filthy, really, and it's utterly corrupting.

You can't have a free society if people aren't allowed to say what they think is true. Speech is the fundamental prerequisite for democracy. That's why it's enshrined in the first of our constitutional amendments. Amazingly, as of tonight, there aren't many platforms left that allow free speech. The last big one remaining in the world, the only one, is Twitter, where we are now. Twitter has long served as the place where our national conversation incubates and develops. Twitter is not a partisan site. Everybody's allowed here, and we think that's a good thing. And yet, for the most part, the news that you see analyzed on Twitter comes from media organizations that are themselves thinly disguised propaganda outlets. You see it on

cable news. You talk about it on Twitter. The result may feel like a debate, but actually, the gatekeepers are still in charge. We think that's a bad system. We know exactly how it works, and we're sick of it. Starting soon, we'll be bringing a new version of the show we've been doing for the last six and a half years to Twitter. We bring some other things too, which we'll tell you about. But for now, we're just grateful to be here. Free speech is the main right that you have. Without it, you have no others. See you soon. Okay, so there's a lot going on here. Obviously, you know, it's pretty crazy

that this is all in the context of a major lawsuit. But second, let's just talk about this in the vacuum on Twitter itself. Fascinating move to launch just on Twitter for a number of reasons. I don't mean this in a disparaging way. But you know, traditionally, if you're somebody like who wants a long form podcast or YouTube show specifically a visual medium, you almost certainly would go to some sort of streaming platform, which is built kind of with that infrastructure. Twitter video is not built really for this at all. So I'm very curious to see if this is rolled maybe into the Twitter blue program or if they include in a long form content playback speed, you know, all these other things that you would never think about

for long form media distribution and consumption. We should remember that the history of long-form video on Twitter is not good. Outside of Periscope and live streaming, AM2DM was a BuzzFeed News morning show concept which horrifically failed on Twitter. This was several years ago whenever it shut down. It's a big gamble not to go with the traditional route of podcasting and of YouTube. Presumptively, though, it's possible that this was maybe the easiest way they thought that they wouldn't violate as much the terms of the contract rather than going fresh out the gate with YouTube and with podcasts.

It's also possible Elon cut him a fat check, basically becoming a publisher himself being like, hey, you know, I've got all the money in the world. I stand for free speech. Fox fired you for X, Y, and Z. I'll hire you and you can report exclusively on my platform. That's pretty interesting. Now, in the context of what I think about all this, and again, I have not spoken to him about this literally at all, so I have no inside knowledge. What I am curious to see is the level of reach that this will maintain, because I think that this does accomplish something that I know was important to him. And I think important for kind of his role in the GOP and media landscape is Twitter is where the elite conversation happens, right? So if he is exclusively on Twitter, then people who are reacting to his clips can do so on Twitter. Also, all the Republican lawmakers can react on Twitter

because that is so key to where all the elites hang out. And it's actually kind of the perfect place where if you're going to be having elites on Twitter, then it's also a great time to ridicule said elites on Twitter, as you will do very likely on his show. That then raises the question of his cultural relevance, where I think this does square the circle somewhat in that way, just because it will be on that central platform. And of course, the reach will be massive. I mean, already, I think within, I think, 10 minutes of him posting the video, I almost had over a million views that were included on the video. Now, of course, I am not comparing cable news viewers to Twitter viewers, which is very, very different. They only have to watch for two seconds. You know, even YouTube views are, frankly, in my opinion, more comparable, but even then, of course, they're slightly different,

all of these things. That said, very clearly, this will be able to reach a younger demographic and is literally unlimited appeal. And also you can watch, presumably, on demand on Twitter at any point that you would want to. This may also prelude some changes to the overall Twitter platform. So anyways, it's a crazy development. And honestly, it's a gamble. It's a gamble to go straight onto Twitter. I personally, I would have gone a much more traditional route, YouTube and podcasts. It's a gamble to go straight onto Twitter. I personally, I would have gone a much more traditional route, YouTube and podcasts.

That's what we do. But anyways, lots to be said here. The lawsuit itself is going to be exciting in terms of what it means for non-competes in the media sphere and also some possible fun stuff that may come out about leaks and text messages and all of that. So we'll continue to cover all that for you. We've got a great show for everybody tomorrow on CounterPoints. Make sure you turn into that. And thank you for everybody, premium subscribers, who enable our snap reactions that we can do for the crew, for everybody,

all of us to just mobilize and get this thing out to you as soon as possible. We love you. BreakingPoints.com if you're able to support us. And, yeah, we'll see you guys later. DNA test proves he is not the father. Now I'm taking the inheritance. Wait a minute, John. Who's not the father? Well, Sam, luckily it's your Not the Father Week on the OK Storytime podcast, And yeah, we'll see you guys later. get the money back. Hold up, they could lose their family and millions of dollars? Yep. Find out how it ends by listening to the OK Storytime podcast on the iHeartRadio

app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. Camp Shane, one of America's longest-running weight loss camps for kids, promised extraordinary results. But there were some dark truths behind Camp Shane's facade of happy, transformed children.

Nothing about that camp was right. It was really actually like a horror movie. Enter Camp Shame, an eight-part series examining the rise and fall of Camp Shane and the culture that fueled its decades-long success. You can listen to all episodes of Camp Shame one week early and totally ad-free on iHeart True Crime Plus. So don't wait. Head to Apple Podcasts and subscribe today. Have you ever thought about going voiceover? I'm Hope Woodard, a comedian, creator, and seeker of male validation. I'm also the girl behind VoiceOver, the movement that exploded in 2024. You might hear that term and think it's about celibacy.

But to me, VoiceOver is about understanding yourself outside of sex and relationships. It's flexible, it's customizable, and it's a personal process. Singleness is not a waiting room. You are actually at the party right now. Let me hear it. Listen to VoiceOver on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an iHeart Podcast.