The Fox News producer responsible for putting up a chyron labeling Joe Biden a “wannabe dictator” resigned from the network shortly afterward, Tucker Carlson said in his latest Twitter video.
Carlson did not name the producer, but Alexander McCaskill, who had long worked at Tucker Carlson Tonight and continued at the network after Fox News pulled Carlson’s show, posted a photo of himself on Instagram departing Fox offices with a box and the message, “Today was my last day at Fox. It’s been a wild 10 years and it was the best place I’ve ever worked because of the great people I met. But the time has come. I asked them to let me go, and they finally did.” The Daily Beast, which first reported on McCaskill’s exit, identified him as the producer Carlson was referring to.
Another senior producer, Thomas Fox, also departed this week, according to The New York Times. McCaskill and Fox had both worked on Carlson’s show. Carlson’s executive producer, Justin Wells, exited in April when Fox News dropped its show.
The chyron, which read “Wannabe dictator speaks at the White House after having his political rival arrested,” appeared on air Tuesday evening as Fox News was carrying Donald Trump’s post-arraignment speech and featured a split screen of Joe Biden addressing a crowd on the White House lawn. The chyron was up only briefly before being taken down, but was flagged on social media.
The next day, the network released a statement saying, “The chyron was taken down immediately and was addressed.”
Carlson, who is engaged in a legal fight with Fox News after his exit, made the incident a centerpiece of his show on Twitter, which he launched last week.
He told viewers that after the chyron appeared and was quickly removed: “Inside Fox, the women who run the network panicked. First they scolded the producer who put the banner on the screen. Less than 24 hours after that, he resigned. He had been at Fox for more than a decade. He was considered one of the most capable people in the building. He offered to stay for the customary two weeks, but Fox told him to clear out his desk and leave immediately. Then the company issued a public apology for the 27-second ‘wannabe dictator’ line. The chyron was taken down immediately, Fox’s PR department said, then added ominously, it was ‘addressed.’”
Carlson then claimed that Fox’s assessment of Trump’s arrest “seemed to overshadow the arrest itself,” citing social media comments made about the chyron by figures like Alexander Vindman and John Cusack.
Fox News did not comment on Carlson’s remarks. The network’s attorneys recently sent him a cease and desist letter over his Twitter show, as Carlson’s Fox News contract runs through the end of 2024. One of his attorneys has accused the network of trying to “silence” him. Talent contracts typically include exclusivity provisions that prevent them from working for other outlets.
McCaskill was among those named in a New York lawsuit filed last spring by another Tucker Carlson producer, Abby Grossberg, in which she described a culture of sexism and retaliation, among other claims. Fox News had said that the lawsuit was “riddled with false allegations.” CNN reported on Thursday that a settlement of Grossberg’s claims was in the works.
