Fox News suddenly announced it would part ways with opinion anchor and commentator Tucker Carlson, who hosted the highly rated Tucker Carlson Tonight.

The separation came as a surprise Monday morning. It is unknown why Fox News and Carlson parted ways.

“FOX News Media and Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways,” the press release read. “We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor.”

“Mr. Carlson’s last program was Friday April 21,” the company said. “Fox News Tonight will air live at 8 PM/ET starting this evening as an interim show helmed by rotating FOX News personalities until a new host is named.”

In April 2020, the Tucker Carlson Tonight program surpassed Hannity as the highest-rated primetime cable show, averaging an audience of 4.56 million viewers.

In the second quarter of 2020, the show saw an average audience of 4.33 million viewers. That was the largest number of viewers for any program in the history of cable news.

According to Mediaite in 2022, “Carlson [was] the number-one watched host among Democrats in the key 25-54 age demographic – across all networks” in the month of October.

As Tucker Carlson’s last show aired on Friday, he was attending the Heritage Foundation’s 50th anniversary gala.

After Carlson keynote, Heritage prez Kevin Roberts: “If things go south for Fox News, there’s always a job for you at Heritage”

Carlson: “You’ve saved me before”

— Emily Brooks (@emilybrooksnews) April 24, 2023