Tucker Carlson’s new show on Twitter launched Tuesday night, a month after he was fired from Fox News.
The show, dubbed “Tucker on Twitter,” featured standard Carlson content. The former Fox host ripped into Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his first segment covering the war. Mr. Carlson called the president “ratlike” and said the Ukranian military was responsible for the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam on Tuesday.
He went on to cast doubt on the official story behind the 9/11 terror attacks and said UFOs are “actually real.”
Despite the content being typical for Mr. Carlson, the production was not. Compared with the lush production of Fox News, Tucker on Twitter was bare bones. The lighting was significantly sparser, the set almost nonexistent and the sound echoed slightly.
A question is whether Mr. Carlson’s new show will have the same reach as his former prime-time slot on Fox, but he certainly has powerful friends on Twitter. Owner and former CEO Elon Musk helped bring Mr. Carlson to the platform exclusively and praised the show after its first night.
“Would be great to have shows from all parts of the political spectrum on this platform!” Mr. Musk tweeted.
Mr. Carlson said he’s on Twitter because it’s dedicated to free speech.
“As of today, we’ve come to Twitter. We’re told there are no gatekeepers here. If that turns out to be false, we’ll leave,” he said in the video.
Other popular conservative commentators like Benny Johnson and Matt Walsh chimed in to point out that the show garnered millions of views. By Wednesday morning, the episode had garnered nearly 80 million views.
Mr. Carlson’s inaugural Twitter show is an example of the power that right-wing influencers have on the platform in the Musk era after years of facing constant banishment. Last week, The Daily Wire’s transgender-questioning film “What Is a Woman?” was boosted by Mr. Musk and garnered significant attention.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
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