Fox News should ensure that its fired star, Tucker Carlson, has a noncompete contract and pay him off rather than allow him to make a deal with another company and take on his former employer head-to-head, podcaster Joe Rogan says.
"I would make sure that we have him locked up for the entire term of some contract, some no-compete, and pay him off," Rogan said on Thursday night's episode of "The Joe Rogan Experience." "You'd be better off just giving him the same amount of money he made when he was on the air than you would if he was opposing you."
Rogan also pointed out that if a "wild card" like Carlson is released from Fox News "and maybe Rumble makes a deal with him or something like that, do you have any ... idea how big that would be? If I was Fox News, that's the last thing I would want."
Rogan was joined by New York-based stand-up comedian David Smith, who suggested that Carlson may have some clause in his multiyear contract with Fox News that is preventing him from speaking out for a certain amount of time.
"I'm sure," Rogan told Smith. "They're smart. They're not stupid."
Rogan said he has no idea what happened that forced Carlson out, but he said he does believe the former Fox star is "designed for the internet" and that he'll either move to an independent platform or create one, "unless they've paid him off."
Carlson released a two-minute video on Twitter Wednesday with his first comments since he was fired. As of Saturday morning, the video had more than 77 million views. It did not address his departure from Fox or what he plans to do next.
Rumble hasn't signaled interest in bringing Carlson onto the platform. Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski did not comment on the matter during a Twitter Spaces discussion Monday.