Tucker Carlson, Fox News have 'agreed to part ways,' company says

NEW YORK -- TV host Tucker Carlson and Fox News have "agreed to part ways," Fox said in a statement Monday.

"We thank him for his service to the network," Fox said in a statement, noting that Carlson's last show was on Friday.

Starting Monday night, Fox News Tonight will air live in Carlson's prime-time slot at 8:00 p.m. ET.

"It will be an interim show with rotating Fox News personalities until a new host is named," Fox News host Harris Faulkner said in a statement read on air.

MORE: Don Lemon out at CNN, company announces

Carlson became Fox's most popular personality after replacing Bill O'Reilly in Fox's prime-time lineup in 2016. He's also consistently drawn headline for controversial coverage, including most recently airing tapes from the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection to minimize the impact of the deadly attack.

There was no immediate explanation from Fox about why Carlson was leaving.

The news comes nearly one week after the $787.5 million settlement agreement between Fox and Dominion Voting Systems. Dominion's suit had accused Fox News of recklessly airing false election claims and conspiracy theories in the wake of the 2020 presidential election.

Carlson and other Fox hosts were caught in private messages doubting their own network's allegations about Dominion's role in the supposed election fraud, while also being concerned that Fox was losing audience among Trump fans at the time. In some of them, Carlson privately criticized Trump, saying he hated him passionately.

A few weeks ago, Carlson devoted his entire show to an interview with Trump.

Carlson was recently named in a lawsuit filed by Abby Grossberg, a Fox News producer fired after claiming that Fox lawyers had pressured her to give misleading testimony in the Dominion lawsuit. Grossberg had gone to work for Carlson after leaving Maria Bartiromo's Fox show.

Her lawsuit says that Grossberg learned "she had merely traded in one overtly misogynistic work environment for an event crueler one - this time, one where unprofessionalism reigned supreme, and the staff's distaste and disdain for women infiltrated almost every workday decision."

Fox has countered with its own lawsuit, trying to bar Grossberg from disclosing confidential discussions with Fox attorneys and saying in a statement that "her allegations in connection with the Dominion case are baseless."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.