Tucker Carlson: After securing Vladimir Putin interview - who is the controversial political commentator?

Tucker Carlson may not be familiar to many UK news watchers - but in the United States, he is a household name. The 54-year-old is among the premier league of right-wing political commentators across the water.

In recent days, he has come to the attention of news watchers around the world as he has interviewed Russian president, Vladimir Putin, for his chat show, shown exclusively on X (formerly known as Twitter). But who is the controversial American news anchor who has managed to do what hundreds of others could not - and secure a chat with the Russian leader?

Who is Tucker Carlson?

Perhaps surprisingly, Carlson first appeared on TV screens in the US on news channel CNN - a brand he would later become famous for lambasting. He became a political commentator - or analyst - after holding various jobs in journalism, including as a fact checker for the conservative journal Policy Review, then writing opinions for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and later rising to write for the likes of the New York Times Magazine and The Wall Street Journal.

After appearing on CNN, he was eventually handed his own show, hosting The Spin Room in 2000, becoming renowned for wearing eccentric bow ties when on camera. In 2004, on the Carlson co-hosted CNN show Crossfire, fellow broadcaster Jon Stewart attacked Carlson, slamming his fiery, provocative, right-wing rhetoric. The show was later cancelled and Carlson’s contract with CNN was not renewed.

He later hosted a show, Carlson, on MSNBC - a more left-wing broadcaster - which even featured the likes of liberal-hero, Rachel Maddow. That too was cancelled, in 2008, due to low ratings.

This would prove a turning point for Carlson, journalistically, with his right-wing opinions becoming amplified and by his own admission, his respect for authority lessening. After a brief appearance on Dancing With The Stars (the US version of Strictly), he founded news website, The Daily Caller. Despite Carlson and co-founder Neil Patel’s protestations, the site became a well-known right-wing source.

After a number of controversial stories - always highlighting problems in the Democratic Party and other left-wing or liberal organisations - Carlson was hired by Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News in 2009. It was here he found his true home, with his controversial views - which included bringing popular right-wing conspiracy theories into mainstream media - scoring big ratings among Fox viewers.

Numerous controversies followed, including a number of advertiser boycotts, but Carlson’s success meant he was kept on at Fox, becoming one of the channel’s most popular - and infamous - shows.

After an episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight in 2018, the channel was sued by former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who Carlson accused of extorting Donald Trump. She was, in fact, paid $150,000 for her exclusive story by an American media company, which never published the story (known as catch-and-kill). This would eventually lead to a number of court cases, and the jailing of former Trump lawyer, Michael Cohen.

Infamously, during the McDougal case, Fox used a defence - accepted by the judge - that Carlson’s shows dealt in “exaggeration”, “non-literal commentary” and “not actual facts”. He went on to resume his show, and continue to provoke controversy.

Then, in 2023, Carlson was suddenly fired by Fox News. It came just days after the channel agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems - which provided technology used for electronic voting in the 2020 US presidential election - more than $750,000,000 to settle a defamation lawsuit, after Fox News hosts were accused of repeatedly defaming Dominion as part of Donald Trump’s ‘big lie’ - that the election was somehow ‘rigged’.

Among evidence in the trial were dozens of messages sent by Carlson in which he criticised fellow Fox hosts and guests, even Donald Trump. However, the channel has never given a reason for Carlson’s firing.

Later in 2023, Carlson announced he was going to launch his show exclusively on X, where he his outspoken, right-wing views - and amplification of conspiracy theories - has become even more extreme, including describing Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as “sweaty and rat-like” and the white supremacy-based ‘replacement theory’.

He has since interviewed the likes of Donald Trump on X, as well as the likes of Russell Brand.

Away from the cameras, Carlson is married to Susan and they have four children.

Famed for criticising “the elites”, Carlson was born Tucker Swanson McNear Carlson, to San Francisco artist Lisa McNear and Dick Carlson and attended several prestigious schools. His father was a director of Voice of America, president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and US ambassador to the Seychelles.