The Daily Signal - BONUS: ‘Most People Fired Me.’ Tucker Carlson Opens Up 2 Years After Fox Breakup

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

It has been two years since Tucker Carlson answered a call on a Monday morning in late April to learn that Fox News had canceled his show. “I got fired from Fox for saying things they didn't like,” Carlson told The Daily Signal during an exclusive interview at The Heritage Foundation's Annual Leadership Conference. “That's all right, you know, it's not my company,” Carlson said of his ousting from Fox, adding, “I wasn't one of those people like, ‘you can't fire me.’ It's like, of course you can fire me!” Fox was not the first major network to end its relationship with Carlson. Tune in to find out what happens next: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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We'd love to talk. Business. I would always say to Fox, Steve, I'm not going to take instruction. I mean, you hired me to get decent ratings. I've done that. If you don't like what I say, you can take me off the air, but you're not going to, like, control my show, just fire me. And they're like, okay, and they exercise that option. And that seemed like that had always been our deal.

Well, Tucker, thank you so much. Oh, thank you for having me. Are you kidding? This is a joy. So we are, we're speaking at the Heritage Foundation's annual leadership conference in Florida. You're giving an address on the main stage. You're kind enough to give us a little bit of time. Oh, I love it.

The last time that you spoke at a big heritage event was about two years ago at the Heritage Foundation 50th anniversary, just outside Washington, D.C. It was almost exactly two years ago. Almost exactly two years ago. That was a Friday night. Right. Monday morning, the world learned that your show had been canceled. Well, I learned, too, actually, that morning. That morning.

I had no idea. Yes. In fact, I went from doing my last show on tape that night because I had worked at Heritage as a kid, and they were having their 50th. So Kevin called me and said, would you speak? And I was like, I used to work, you know, he gave me my first job. So I'm always grateful to anyone who gives me a job. So I was like, yeah, definitely I will. So I taped my show on Friday in Washington, where we're from.

And then that was the last show I ever did. I didn't know that at the time. So is there going to be another major big announcement coming in here now? I can't be fired now. Well, things seem to be going pretty well. Almost four million followers on your YouTube channel. Oh, I don't even look. But yeah, no, we started a company that, so I got fired two years ago next week, I guess.

Yeah. And so I guess it's today, it will be two years ago tomorrow that I spoke at Heritage. How weird. That's very bizarre. It is bizarre. But anyway, we started a company. My college roommate and I, we've started other companies, but I was unemployed. And he was like, he's been successful.

He's kind of like semi-retired. And so, but we started a company and we decided that we didn't want invest. We have no investors and didn't want, you know, any big advertisers who control us. We just were very anti-control. You get to a certain point you can control too much. So we own the company with no one else and it's just been great. I mean, I don't feel like we've said anything bad. I feel like I'm as moderate as I've always been.

But it's just nice not to have anybody telling you what you can say. I'm definitely opposed to that. Do you ever miss the world of cable news? Well, I was at 30 years. So that's a long, it is a long time. It's a long time. My first child was born a few months before I got into it and is now 30. So I know that for a fact.

So yeah, that's a long time. That's enough time. I had a great time in cable news. I really enjoyed it. I liked everyone I worked for, including the people who fired me, which was everybody I worked for. Wait, everybody you ever worked for fired you all? Not really.

Most people fired me. Yeah. The three big networks all fired me. Okay. But then I worked for PBS for a year. They didn't fire me. I quit. I quit.

I broke up with them. But anyway, no, they all fired me. But that's okay. I mean, for various reasons. Seems like it worked out okay. It worked out great. And by the way, they were always nice to me when I was there. And I think it's okay to fire someone.

I mean, I got fired once for low ratings, once for being kind of a lunatic. And another time for I got fired from Fox for saying things they didn't like. But that's all right. You know, it's not my company. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I was one of those people like, you can't fire me. It's like, of course you can fire me. Yeah. You know, you can't tell me what to say. I would always say to Fox. I'm not going to take instruction. I mean, you hired me to get decent ratings. I've done that. If you don't like what I say, you can take me off the air, but you're not going to like control my show. Yeah. Just fire me. And they're like,

and they exercise that option. And that seemed like that had always been our deal. Yeah. So. Well, now you're having conversations with a very, very wide range of people that are all very honest people and that say what they want to say. I try to find those people. Yeah. Well, you're doing a good job of it. I mean, I was looking at your feed. And I think in the course of about five days, you released interviews with the Prime Minister of Qatar, with Jonathan Rumi, who plays Jesus in The Chosen and with Sam Bankman freed from prison. A very wide swat of individuals. Yeah, well, I have varied interests, you know. But I'm interested in people. I thought about retiring after I got, I didn't really think about retiring, but I thought I could, I love to trout fish and to bird hunt. So like I haven't, and carpentry. I have interests, you know, but I really love talking to people I like learning. That sounds like BS, but it's actually fully sincere. And I love that more than I love money. I would do that for free. So, and I do. We have big dinners at my house, you know, every week. So it's part of the way that I live by choice.

and so why not do some of it in public? And I just get a lot out of it. I mean, every time you talk to somebody, you get, especially in person, you get a completely different feeling for the person than you do if you're reading about him or watching clips on social media or whatever. And you just learn a lot.

You learn a lot off air. I don't read any news content at all. I mean, at all. Really? None. None. Zero. None. So where are you getting? From people, you know, from people. I'm not following.

I'm not following every topic. I only follow five or six things. You're never going to get me to wax philosophical on monetary policy. I actually do have views on monetary policy, but they're pretty uninformed. I'm just not an expert. What are those five topics that you said you follow closely? I'm really interested in the foreign policy stuff.

And I've spent a lot of time on that topic. I'm not an expert on it, but I certainly know a lot more than most policymakers in the United States who are probably the dumbest people I've ever met in my life. and reckless and not all, but the majority, have no right to make the decisions that they make. And so I do feel confident saying that. And so, but I just stick to the topics that I'm interested in. You know, I'm interested in spiritual questions.

I'm interested in the outdoors. And I'm interested in the balance of power globally and in war and preventing it. So those are my interest. So if you just pick the topics that you are naturally interested in, and you feel like you have some understanding of like what the basic framework is of the topic, And just focus on those and admit in public, you know, I don't really know enough to talk about a lot of different things.

Then your life just gets a lot easier. You don't have to be an expert on everything. And by the way, no one can be. You know what I mean? Yeah, it's refreshing. Yeah. And then don't let the lies into your head. Like, don't, why would you read the New York Times?

There are a couple of people, I'll just admit it in public who I've known for a long time who work at the New York Times, not many, but a couple, who I do trust and do talk to, you know, just because I know them. There are a couple reporters I talked to, not many. Having spent my whole life in that world, I talked to a surprisingly small number of journalists, but there are still a couple who I do because they're really well informed. I talked to one today, really well informed and not that political. So, but in general, I don't read, well, not in general, specifically, I do not read any. I don't read The New York Times. I don't subscribe to the Washington Post.

I don't read Politico or any of that crap. It's just garbage. Like, why would you read that? Because it gets in your head and then you can't remember how did I know that or did I hear that? You know, so I get almost 100% of my information from individuals on the phone or by text. From sources. What? That's what I do for a living.

Yeah, it works out well. Well, yeah, and I can justify doing it for like six hours a day because it is my job. It's your job. Subscribe to get the news. The legacy media won't tell you and only the daily signal can bring to you.