In the midst of his high-profile departure from Fox News, former network anchor Tucker Carlson is gearing up to go on the offensive, according to a new Axios report.

The article shares that Carlson is planning to launch a conservative platform to rival Fox's presence in US media.

A sticking point here is that Carlson remains under contract with Fox until January 2025, after the next presidential election. He will reportedly continue to earn around $20 million per year from Fox for the duration of this contract despite not working.

According to Axios, other right-wing media outlets have already approached Carlson with offers of work, and that these offers involved more money than he's currently earning.

The divisive anchor even discussed a potential venture with billionaire entrepreneur and Twitter CEO Elon Musk, but this reportedly fell through.

The Backstory

Carlson lost his job with Fox on April 24, reported the Los Angeles Times.

The network did not immediately reveal the reason for the departure of its popular host. However, insiders said the decision came from Fox Corporation President Rupert Murdoch.

Sources from within the network also shared that Carlson's ouster was related to a discrimination lawsuit filed by Abby Grossberg, a former company employee who alleged she had experienced antisemitism while working on "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

There has also been speculation that Carlson's departure is related to the $787.5 million settlement Fox was forced to pay Dominion Voting Systems, reported CNBC.

Dominion sued Fox over alleged claims the network spread that the company's voting technology had facilitated election fraud.

Some of the discovery material used in this case included internal messages sent by Tucker Carlson allegedly containing racist and sexist material.

The messages were redacted by the time they reached the public. However, one of Carlson's statements allegedly criticized right-wing protesters for attacking a lone Leftist, stating it was "not how white men fight."

Fox has continued to insist it parted ways with Carlson on mutual grounds, Axios reported.

Carlson's View

Tucker Carlson released a video on Twitter on April 27, two days after news of his dismissal broke.

In the clip, he complains that most political debates on TV are "unbelievably stupid," claiming the media focus on pointless discussions while ignoring matters of substance.

Stating real debates were "not permitted" because of powerful interests, he predicted that the current state of American politics and media is too "inherently ridiculous to continue... so it won't."

He concludes the video by musing that there are some places where real conversations about American issues are still taking place, and signed off by saying "see you soon."