Travis Tritt Hints He No Longer Watches Fox After Tucker Carlson Exit

Country musician Travis Tritt has hinted that he is among those who have deserted Fox News following Tucker Carlson's sudden departure from the network.

It was announced on April 24 that Carlson, 54, had departed the network effective immediately, with his final show already broadcast three days earlier. His exit ended his six-year reign as Fox News' ratings star, after he was elevated to prime time in 2017 following the inauguration of former President Donald Trump.

"Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways," the network announced in its statement, which was vague on details. "We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor."

Carlson's ousting saw Fox News lose half of the timeslot's viewers as ratings plunged from more than 3 million to an audience of as low as 1.3 million the following week. He had previously been feted by the station which saw his prime-time show Tucker Carlson Tonight become the highest-rated cable news program in the key demographic of those aged 25 to 54.

Country artist Tritt, 60, has hinted that he's among those who have walked away from Fox News in light of Carlson's departure. The musician liked a pair of posts by other Twitter users who declared that they were boycotting the network.

One of the tweets was from Rogan O'Handley, a self-described political influencer, who wrote about a variety of boycotts.

"Haven't donated to the RNC since they installed Ronna Romney McDaniel," he said. "Haven't drank a Bud Light since they went Woke. Haven't watched Fox News since they got rid of Tucker. And I'm not alone."

Tritt also liked a tweet from Juanita Broaddrick, who had alleged that she was raped by former President Bill Clinton in 1978, when he was serving as the attorney general of Arkansas. Clinton has denied Broaddrick's accusations.

Posting a link to an article claiming that Sean Hannity would be taking over Carlson's primetime slot on Fox News, Broaddrick commented: "Still not watching. You?"

Newsweek has contacted a representative of Tritt via email for comment.

Fox News has since denied that Hannity has been installed as Carlson's replacement. A variety of hosts are currently presenting in the timeslot.

Carlson's unexpected departure from Fox News was said to have been triggered in part by a text he sent to a producer about footage of an "Antifa [antifascist] kid" being attacked by a group of "Trump guys."

Carlson allegedly said the violence is "not how white men fight" then added he found himself "rooting for the mob" and hoping they'd "kill him" before being dismayed by his own reaction.

The text was reportedly discovered amid the broadcaster's legal battle with Dominion Voting Systems, which had accused Fox News of defamation by pushing untrue allegations that election fraud aided Joe Biden's presidential victory over Donald Trump. The broadcaster eventually settled for $787.5 million rather than go to trial.

In May, Carlson announced that he would be moving his show online by broadcasting on Twitter. The broadcaster tweeted a video on May 9 outlining his intention to pivot to social media, uploading an almost 3-minute clip.

Addressing the camera directly in his Twitter statement, Carlson said: "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 is 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... 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'll be bringing some other things too, which we'll tell you about. But for now, we're just grateful to be here."