Carlson’s Text That Alarmed Fox Leaders: ‘It’s Not How White Men Fight’

The textual content message added to a rising variety of inner points involving Mr. Carlson that led the corporate’s management to conclude he was extra of an issue than an asset and needed to go, based on a number of folks with information of the choice. In different messages he had referred to ladies — together with a senior Fox government — in crude and misogynistic phrases. The message concerning the battle additionally performed a task within the firm’s choice to settle with Dominion for $787.5 million, the best identified payout in a defamation case.

A consultant for Mr. Carlson mentioned he had no remark.

The textual content is a part of redacted court docket filings and its contents have been beforehand unreported. The contents of the textual content have been disclosed in interviews with a number of folks near the defamation lawsuit in opposition to Fox. The folks spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of they didn’t wish to be recognized discussing a message that’s protected by a court docket order. In public filings, it stays hidden behind a block of black textual content.

Mr. Carlson’s messages have been collected as a part of the defamation lawsuit filed in opposition to Fox by Dominion, which accused the community of knowingly airing falsehoods about election fraud. Many of the messages shared within the case, together with these amongst Fox executives and hosts, have been launched publicly. But others, just like the one between Mr. Carlson and one among his producers within the hours after Jan. 6, 2021, stay redacted.

In that textual content, Mr. Carlson described his personal feelings as he watched the video of the violent conflict, which he mentioned occurred on the streets of Washington. Mr. Carlson didn’t describe the race of the person being attacked.

“I found myself rooting for the mob against the man, hoping they’d hit him harder, kill him. I really wanted them to hurt the kid. I could taste it,” he wrote. “Then somewhere deep in my brain, an alarm went off: this isn’t good for me. I’m becoming something I don’t want to be.”

After all, he wrote, “Somebody probably loves this kid, and would be crushed if he was killed.”

“If I don’t care about those things, if I reduce people to their politics, how am I better than he is?” he wrote.