CNN fired longtime host Don Lemon on Monday following his short and disastrous run as a morning show host, a little over two months after he apologized for on-air comments about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley being “past her prime.” The move quickly turned nasty.

While CNN chairman and CEO Chris Licht announced that they had “parted ways,” Mr. Lemon characterized it as a firing and said it was surprise to him. “After 17 years at CNN I would have thought someone in management would have the decency to tell me directly,” Mr. Lemon said. CNN said that Mr. Lemon was given the opportunity to meet with management and offered no public explanation for Mr. Lemon’s dismissal.

Meanwhile, Fox News on Monday ousted primetime host Tucker Carlson, whose stew of grievances and political theories about Russia and the Jan. 6 insurrection had grown to define the network in recent years and make him an influential force in GOP politics.

Fox said that the network and Mr. Carlson had “agreed to part ways,” but offered no explanation for the stunning move, saying that the last broadcast of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” aired last Friday. Mr. Carlson ended the show by saying, “We’ll be back on Monday.”

Yet on Monday night, viewers tuned in to morning anchor Brian Kilmeade, who said that Mr. Carlson was gone, “as you may have heard.”

The break from Mr. Carlson comes amid a cascade of bad legal news for the network. A week ago, Fox agreed to pay more than $787 million to settle a lawsuit with Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s airing of false claims following the 2020 presidential election — shortly before Mr. Carlson was expected to be called to testify.

Compiled by Craig Belcher