Fox News host Tucker Carlson slammed his publisher Simon & Schuster in his new book for engaging in censorship that he said “mirrors the decline of America.”
“I’d like to acknowledge Jonathan Karp of Simon & Schuster, whose descent from open-minded book editor to cartoonish corporate censor mirrors the decline of America itself. It’s been a sad education watching it happen,” Carlson wrote in the acknowledgment section of his new book, “The Long Slide: Thirty Years in American Journalism.”
Carlson’s criticism of the publisher comes after the New York-based Simon and Schuster canceled their deal with Sen. Josh Hawley one day after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot due to a “pressure campaign organized by leftist activists.” Their reasoning for pulling back on the deal, the company claimed without evidence, was Hawley’s “role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom.” Hawley eventually published his bestseller book “The Tyranny of Big Tech” through the Washington-based Regnery Publishing company while Simon and Schuster opted for a new deal with Hunter Biden.
The Fox host disagreed with Simon & Schuster’s decision at the time but said he was “contractually obligated” to finish out his two-book deal with the publisher he later called a “disgusting company run by disgusting people.” Shortly after the publisher pulled Hawley’s contract, Carlson discussed the decision with company leaders on a private Zoom call and called them out for hurting free expression.
“This seemed like a worrisome standard to me — not to mention unintentionally hilarious — and I said so,” Carlson wrote in his book. “‘You can see why this would make people who believe in free expression and the intellectual life of the country nervous, can’t you?’”
“No,” the publisher’s senior vice president Dana Canedy reportedly said. “I can’t. I actually can’t.”
“I switched tacks and once again asked what Josh Hawley had done wrong. What was his crime?” Carlson recounted.
“It’s a business decision, Tucker,” Karp reportedly claimed, which Carlson said was “absurd.”
After that call, Carlson’s feelings that the publishing company’s behavior was encroaching on “the idea of a free country” became more apparent via interviews.
“A company I was working for was doing harm, not just to one person, Josh Hawley, but to our entire system, to the idea of a free country,” Carlson recently told one of his network’s reporters.
Jordan Davidson is a staff writer at The Federalist. She graduated from Baylor University where she majored in political science and minored in journalism.