Tucker Carlson’s Return Hailed by MAGA As First Show Viewed 40M Times
Tucker #Tucker
The first episode of Tucker Carlson’s new show on Twitter has been praised by MAGA supporters, as the former Fox News host raked in more than 40 million views.
Carlson, who was the long-time host of Tucker Carlson Tonight, parted ways with Fox News in April. The following month, Carlson announced he would be broadcasting a new show on Twitter.
Some conservatives called for a boycott of Fox News after Tucker Carlson’s exit, with many saying they would follow the broadcaster’s next venture. MAGA figures including Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and former Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake were among those who congratulated Tucker for his latest show.
The 10-minute video has so far been viewed more than 47 million times since being posted on Carlson’s Twitter page to his 7.9 million followers on the evening of June 6.
While Carlson has been praised for the number of views, Twitter does not publicly show how long individuals watched a video.
Nielsen, a company used to measure television ratings, provides data on the average number of concurrent viewers, not the cumulative number—a detail pointed out when Carlson’s online success is compared to television networks.
“I don’t know about all of you, but I like the LIBERATED Tucker Carlson so much more than the @TuckerCarlson who had the hand of the corrupt corporate news pressing down on him.” Lake tweeted, speaking about Carlson’s show.
“I can’t wait to see what Tucker has to say in the coming days, weeks and months. And to think his audience has grown by 20 or 30 million! Who got the last laugh? Tucker and We the People did!”
“This is great and he’s just getting started,” Greene wrote, sharing Carlson’s video.
“Tucker is officially back,” Donald Trump Jr. said in a similar message.
The conservative commentator Candace Owens praised Carlson on the first episode of his show, as he discussed who may have been responsible for the explosion of a Soviet-era dam in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region.
“The question is, who did it? The Kakhovka dam was effectively Russian, it was built by the Russian government and currently sits in Russian-controlled territory,” Carlson said. The host went on to suggest that Ukraine may have blown up the dam to hurt Russia, despite its destruction causing danger and hardship for Ukrainian citizens.
The Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam was destroyed Tuesday morning, releasing at least 150 tons of machine oil into the Dnieper River. Kyiv blamed Moscow for the “terrorist attack,” but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Ukraine had struck the dam in an attempt to impact Crimea’s water supplies.”
Carlson then aired his frustrations with journalists and the media industry. He argued that journalists are ignoring topics such as “what exactly happened on 9/11,” and how convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein died.
Others, however, were more critical of the former Fox News host’s content.
“Carlson cost Fox News almost $800 million for spreading lies he didn’t believe. He lost his job. His first Twitter episode (yes) is all about blaming Ukraine for blowing up the Kakhovka dam, which he falsely describes as ‘effectively Russian,’ and Russia’s ‘own infrastructure,'” senior Yahoo News Correspondent Michael Weiss tweeted.
“Tucker is still evil,” former GOP congressman Adam Kinzinger tweeted.
Newsweek has contacted Tucker Carlson via email and Facebook for comment.
Related Articles
Start your unlimited Newsweek trial