We always knew that Tucker Carlson would not be out of work for long — or, alternatively, only as long as he wanted to be — after we heard that Fox News inexplicably canceled him.
Boy, did that turn out to be the truth. In fact, there may be a bidding war going on for Carlson.
But one network in particular really seems to want Carlson…so much so that its CEO just sweetened a previous sweet deal he made to the former top-rated Fox alum.
Earlier this week, the star of Fox News received a massive offer of $100 million from Valuetainment CEO Patrick Bet-David, a right-leaning “new media” network.
And Bet-David candidly posted his offer letter to Carlson online. It read:
Dear Tucker,
I’ll get right to the point.
We want you to partner with us in what we feel is a noble and necessary effort to define the future of media.
Here’s our offer:
- $100M over 5 years.
- An equity stake in Valuetainment
- President of Valuetainment and a board seat to project your strategic vision and voice.
- Your own podcast(s) and other daily/weekly shows.
- Documentaries and movies covering topics you care about.
- What else? We are all ears.
Our convictions about freedom, liberty, and truth run deep and we believe we are the absolute right fit for you and America.
While we may not be the biggest media company, we are a new media leader driving into the future to make truth, fair debate, and commentary more accessible, consumable, and protected.
We are 100% serious about our offer.
Respectfully,
Patrick Bet-David
CEO
Dear @TuckerCarlson, our offer from @ValuetainmentTV ?? pic.twitter.com/RXDRSDchMi
— Patrick Bet-David (@patrickbetdavid) May 2, 2023
Bet-David upped the bid for Carlson on Thursday, saying viewers would “get the real Tucker with no handcuffs and muzzles.”
“You don’t push a guy like that in any direction — you ask what he wants to do and you give your proposals and your ideas, and then we try to collaborate and see what makes sense. On cable news you’re still held hostage to the advertisers. You’re still held hostage on what you can talk about and what you cannot talk about,” he told podcaster Benny Johnson.
“So imagine if you want to call out the pharmaceutical companies, and then all of a sudden, after your break, a pharmaceutical commercial comes out — you just called them out,” Bet-David continued. “And then the CEO of that company calls and says, ‘Hey, you gotta tell Tucker he can’t say that again.’
“If there are people that would like Tucker to be free to talk about whatever he has to talk about, maybe we have to pay premium for it,” he said, adding: “To get the real Tucker with no handcuffs and muzzles and all this other stuff that mainstream media was doing.”
“If you want to team up with somebody that’s got the vision in place, the cause in place, and it’s a true believer on how great of a country America is that is worth fighting for — and the fight is a real fight because the enemy is real — we feel we’re the right fit to partner with somebody like Tucker Carlson,” he said earlier.
WATCH:
?@PatrickBetDavid explains his $100M offer to buy out Tucker Carlson from Fox News and platform a new show for him:
"If there is people that would like Tucker to be free to talk about whatever he has to talk about, maybe we have to pay premium for it…to get the real Tucker… pic.twitter.com/XrKZ1bUcxv
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 3, 2023
Previous reports noted that Newsmax TV is also interested in wooing Carlson and his massive audience to that network.
In time, we’ll find out what he does. But wherever he lands, we’ll be watching.