Bonus: Spring cleaning in media. Call me, boys!

What if Jeff Shell, Don Lemon, and Tucker Carlson are actually all the same story? It's the sexism, stupid.

I know one of these things doesn’t seem like the other, but stay with me.

• Jeff Shell: Back in 2020, the CEO of NBCUniversal actually fired the vice chairman because of an affair gone badly. Over the weekend, though, Shell himself was abruptly booted because of an “inappropriate workplace relationship.”

• Don Lemon: Abruptly departed CNN, a few months after he was demoted to a morning show for saying that Nikki Haley was “past her prime,” and saying that in fact, all women, are past their prime once out of their 20s and 30s. But it’s not just that; he reportedly has a long history of workplace sexism.

• Tucker Carlson: Out in the wake of a nearly $800 million settlement with voting-machine maker Dominion, downplaying democracy, trying to sanitize the January 6 insurrection, white nationalism, and so on. All possible reasons. Maybe it got too awkward having to explain to MAGA voters how Carlson’s texts reveal that he despises Donald Trump. Could be that.

  But what if … and hear me out. What if it’s also this:

In one of the suits, [former producer Abby] Grossberg accused Carlson and Fox of sexism and harassment, alleging his show's workplace was replete with examples of misogyny. Her lawsuit claims, among other things, that mocked-up photographic images depicted then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi "in a bathing suit revealing her cleavage" and that staffers were polled — on two separate occasions — on which of two female candidates for Michigan governor they would rather have sex with.

We may not know for a while, but I’ll just say that there were worse offenders than Carlson in the Dominion broadcasts. A settlement that big will make any network nervous about any lawsuit, for sure. But I do have to wonder if Carlson’s more specific problem is … as it so often is … the women.

@realm5ollyJeff Shell, Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon all actually have the same thing in common: it's the sexism, stupid. #tuckercarlson #donlemon #metoo

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Oh, and CNN, looks like you’ve got some openings. Call me!