Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., implored Rupert Murdoch to deplatform the conservative views of Tucker Carlson, while Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., condemned Carlson for "incitement of violence," and Fox News followed suit.
Murdoch, co-chair of the Fox Corporation and the executive chair of News Corp, was given the warning just weeks ago outside the Senate chamber by Schumer, who said Murdoch has "a special obligation to stop Tucker Carlson," saying the former TV host has "perverted and slimed the truth."
"And for letting him go on again, and again, and again," Schumer continued. "Not because their views deserved such opprobrium but because our democracy depends on it."
Then, this weekend, former President Joe Biden's previous White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, asked AOC whether conservative networks should be held "accountable" for their reporting. And AOC full-throatedly backed the censorship of Carlson's views.
"I believe that when it comes to broadcast television, like Fox News, these are subject to federal law, federal regulation in terms of what's allowed on air and what isn't," AOC told Psaki. "And, when you look at what Tucker Carlson and some of these other folks on Fox do, it is very, very clearly incitement of violence."
Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy denounced the "establishment" turn of his network's leading conservative news competitor.
"For a while Fox News has been moving to become establishment media and Tucker Carlson's removal is a big milestone in that effort," Ruddy wrote in a statement. "Millions of viewers who liked the old Fox News have made the switch to Newsmax and Tucker's departure will only fuel that trend."