Fox News is plotting to replace its exiled host Tucker Carlson by moving Sean Hannity up an hour and giving that newly-vacated time slot to Jesse Watters, according to a new report the media outlet has downplayed.
As part of the move, reported by Drudge Report this morning, Greg Gutfeld would also move to prime time, potentially leaving his wildly successful 11 p.m. late-night show.
The alleged move could allow the network to bring a highly rated program to the former Carlson block – which has struggled massively to regain viewers since the network fired the newsman – without forcing the host to live with the reputation as Carlson’s replacement.
While the network’s ratings have remained unsteady since firing Carlson, it downplayed the rumor in a statement to Variety, telling the outlet that “no decision has been made” for how to replace Carlson and “there are multiple scenarios under consideration.”
🚨BREAKING: Fox News to replace Tucker Carlson at 8pm ET with Hannity, will be followed by Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld.
– Drudge Report
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 17, 2023
Though Hannity and Carlson reportedly enjoyed a cordial relationship at the network, the men’s ideologies seem to differ on key issues that matter to Trump supporters. One such example came last year, when Hannity and Sen. John Kennedy argued in favor of Elon Musk censoring “hate speech” on Twitter.
“The question is, if you really want to have a freedom of speech platform, I mean any reasonable person with a conscience and a soul deplores real racism and deplores, um, real antisemitism,” Hannity said during the televised interview, prompting Kennedy to agree with an “Mhm.”
While some rumors indicate Carlson was fired for his refusal to stop reporting about January 6 and allegations that it was allowed or coordinated by federal intelligence agencies, Hannity reportedly urged 45th President Donald Trump to offer a presidential pardon to Hunter Biden as an apparent peace offering during the fallout from the Capitol protests.
Image: Flickr/Gage Skidmore
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also claimed last December that he attempted to bring the Hunter Biden Laptop to Hannity and Fox News in 2019, long before it was published by the New York Post, but Hannity and a series of other media “buried it.”
Hannity previously hosted the 9 p.m. time slot, steering the network after “The O’Reilly Factor” and Megyn Kelly’s short-lived program. He was moved to 10 p.m. after Carlson was given a prime time position in 2017.
This week a video was released by James O’Keefe’s new O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) in which a Fox News producer claimed that Carlson was fired due to a confluence of complaints regarding his impact on the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit and Carlson’s reporting on January 6.
