Prankster Trolls Fox News With Pro-Tucker Carlson Message
Any broadcast that allows unvetted callers to opine on the air runs the risk of being the victim of an embarrassing prank, and that was the case for Fox News in the wake of a shooting in Baltimore, Maryland, this week.
Host Trace Gallagher welcomed a caller who identified himself as “Tyrone” and was purportedly a student at Morgan State University, where the incident occurred on Tuesday. Shortly after he was asked what he witnessed, the caller began an effusive recommendation of the social media program hosted by former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
After Carlson’s top-rated prime-time program was unceremoniously canceled earlier this year, he moved his show to Twitter — now known as X — where he has amassed a loyal following.
“We all get together every Tuesday night, and we watch Tucker Carlson’s show on X,” the caller told Gallagher. “We used to watch him on Fox News. Obviously, he’s not there no more, and still being the most credible guy in the media in America, we always get together to watch Tucker Carlson.”
He went on to take a dig at the network and mainstream media in general, asserting that Carlson is “doing probably better now that he’s not with Fox News” and no longer has “that hand up his back” to control what he is allowed to say.
The caller insisted that “the corporate media always controls what the teleprompter readers are able to say.”
At that point, the host realized that he was being pranked and interrupted the caller to request that a previous guest be invited back on.
“Maybe we can work to get Don back on the phone,” Gallagher said. “Clearly, that was not a student at Morgan State University.”
Although Fox News remains the dominant cable news network and has seen its ratings rebound slightly, viewership took a significant hit after Carlson’s ouster.
Host Jesse Watters was selected to take over the coveted prime-time slot and, although he is a generally popular personality among Fox News viewers, he has struggled to attract anywhere near the ratings that his predecessor brought to the network in recent years.
