NFL Legend Brett Favre Calls for Fox News Boycott Over Tucker Carlson

Famed NFL player Brett Favre on Monday added his voice to the chorus of conservatives calling for a Fox News boycott in the wake of Tucker Carlson's abrupt departure.

Carlson, who had hosted the hugely popular Tucker Carlson Tonight since 2016, parted ways with the conservative news network on April 24 for reasons that have yet to be officially disclosed. Reports since then have suggested that a recently uncovered racist text message written by Carlson in 2021 may have prompted Fox officials to take action.

Other observers have cited a lawsuit from a former staff member, Abby Grossberg, alleging that Carlson fostered a misogynistic workplace. The former host himself has not addressed the matter, outside of a video on Twitter in which he did not give any details about his departure from Fox but said he would be back soon.

Carlson was one of the most watched figures on the network, and the ratings for his former 8 p.m. time slot have taken a tumble since his departure. Making matters worse for Fox, numerous conservative figures have come out in support of the ex-host, with some going so far as to call for a boycott of the network.

Favre, a retired Hall of Famer best known for his many seasons with the Green Bay Packers, took to Twitter on Monday to voice his support for such a boycott.

"I'm with Tucker," he wrote. "Time to boycott Fox until they come to their senses and let the man speak."

After keeping quiet on the matter for a few weeks, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, spoke out in support of Carlson during a Newsmax interview. Besides praising the ousted host, he suggested that unspecified behind-the-scenes matters at Fox were to blame for the situation.

"Tucker Carlson is a fantastic individual," DeSantis said. "I think the show was fantastic. I think it's terrible that he was fired. I think there's more to it. I don't really think that it was about Tucker, I think it was about some of this other stuff that's going on with Fox.

"But, you know, he was someone who was willing to speak out and challenge the prevailing orthodoxies," the governor continued. "I guarantee you, whatever he does [next], he's going to be successful."

A recent report by Axios suggested that Carlson intends to launch his own "media empire" to compete with his former employer, but he is bound to remain on the sidelines by his Fox News contract, which expires in January 2025.

"The idea that anyone is going to silence Tucker and prevent him from speaking to his audience is beyond preposterous," Carlson's attorney, Bryan Freedman, said in a statement to Axios.

Newsweek reached out to Freedman via email for comment.

Attempts by Newsweek to reach Fox News for comment on developments and rumors in the Carlson situation have been met with the company's initial statement about parting ways with the host and thanking him for his work over the years.