After Carlson repeatedly promoted the conspiracy theory on air, lawyers for Epps sent a cease-and-desist letter to the anchor in March asking him to retract his comments, a potential precursor to a defamation suit. In addition to the Dominion and Grossberg lawsuits, Carlson also faces the threat of a defamation suit from Trump supporter Ray Epps, a January 6 riot attendee who’s become the center of a conspiracy theory alleging that he was a government informant planted at the riot to instigate the attack. Fox News’ fear that more of those messages may have been unearthed and come to light reportedly contributed to the reasons behind Carlson’s firing, according to Puck, with the Journal reporting the redacted comments being released could “embarrass” the company. The Wall Street Journal reports that included an instance where Carlson called a senior executive by a derogatory term, which the publication reports he was upset was redacted because “his dislike of this executive was deep and enduring” and he wanted it to be publicly known. The full extent of Carlson’s comments against Fox News executives made in the Dominion filing, as many are still redacted and were never publicly released during the case. That case and Grossberg’s lawsuits against the network are pending. While Fox’s case with Dominion has been settled, the network still faces a second defamation lawsuit from rival voting company Smartmatic, which similarly takes aim at fraud claims Fox made on the air following the 2020 election involving the company’s machines. The ex-anchor has reportedly retained entertainment lawyer Bryan Freedman, who has not yet responded to a request for comment. It’s still unclear what Carlson’s next steps will be in the media industry, and if he’ll take any legal action against Fox over his termination. The lawsuit also cites a number of comments and controversies from Carlson separate from Grossberg’s allegations as further evidence of his alleged sexism, such as him saying in 2019 that women are “extremely primitive” and, about reports that students at his teenage daughter’s boarding school were “experimenting sexually with each other,” “If it weren't my daughter, I would love that scenario.” What To Watch For
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