Brian Kilmeade quickly addressed Tucker Carlson’s split from Fox News as he filled in as host of Monday night’s show.
During what would have been the time slot for Carlson’s show, the political commentator started off the newly-named Fox News Tonight by saying, “As you probably have heard, Fox News and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways.”
Kilmeade, co-host on Fox & Friends, then went on to “wish Tucker the best. I’m great friends with Tucker and always will be.”
On Monday, Fox News Media announced that it would be parting ways with the host of Tucker Carlson Tonight, which aired on weeknights at 8 p.m. It came as a surprise to many since Carlson’s program would regularly rank as the most-watched show for the channel and sometimes for all of cable TV. It was not immediately clear what prompted the decision.
The company said in a statement, “Fox News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways. We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”
According to Fox, the show, which had its last episode with Carlson as host on Friday, will have guest hosts fill in until a replacement is found for the show, now called Fox News Tonight.
Carlson had been set to talk to Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy on Monday night’s show — something the network had been promoting earlier in the day — but Kilmeade proceeded with the interview.
Alex Weprin contributed to this story.
