Rupert Murdoch has revealed that he has never watched Succession, the HBO hit loosely based on his life as the patriarch of an unruly billionaire family and as the head of the rightwing media empire that is now under growing pressure amid a $1.6bn defamation lawsuit against Fox News.
Filings in the lawsuit, brought by Dominion Voting Systems, included candid admissions from Murdoch, 92, and those who work for him, showing how senior Fox News figures did not believe Donald Trump’s lie about electoral fraud in his 2020 defeat by Joe Biden but did not stop broadcasting them for fear of losing viewers to rightwing rivals.
But, as reported by Semafor, filings in the suit also revealed an unredacted email address used by Murdoch himself.
Max Tani, a Semafor media reporter, wrote to the media mogul asking about his TV viewing habits.
“Hey Rupert,” Tani wrote. “I’m a media reporter with Semafor. I wanted to get in touch to see if you plan on watching the final season of Succession when it airs later this month, and what you think of the show. Thanks, let me know.”
Surprisingly, Murdoch wrote back: “Never watched it.”
“It’s an interesting show,” Tani replied. “While I have you: How do you think Elon [Musk] is doing running Twitter?”
“Great!” Murdoch wrote. “Tough task but he will get there.”
Tani said the Tesla and SpaceX mogul’s job in charge of Twitter, which he bought last year and which has since been engulfed in controversy, “definitely seems challenging”.
Then Tani chanced his arm, addressing another controversy engulfing Fox as rightwing host Tucker Carlson broadcasts videos of the January 6 insurrection seeking to portray it as a largely peaceful protest.
“I’m curious: Do you agree with Tucker’s recent 1/6 coverage portraying the 1/6 rioters as peaceful and orderly?”
Nine deaths have been linked to the riot, which Trump incited in an attempt to stay in power. More than a thousand people have been arrested, hundreds charged and many convicted, some with seditious conspiracy. McCarthy’s decision to give the footage to Carlson provoked outrage.
Carlson’s private messages have been revealed in the Dominion suit, among them a text in which he said he “passionately hates” Trump.
Tani also asked Murdoch: “Another one for you: Have you been getting more inquiries over the last week since this email address was included in the Dominion suit?”
Murdoch did not answer those questions.
