Cris Carter says Fox ‘had no choice’ but to fire Joy Taylor

In the wake of FS1 moving on from Joy Taylor, her former colleague Cris Carter says the divorce had to happen.

It hasn’t even been two weeks since FS1 slashed their weekday lineup, eliminating Breakfast Ball, The Facility, Speak, and a cast of talent. But after Fox Sports already announced a new partnership with Dave Portnoy and Barstool Sports, it does seem like the decision to move on from Joy Taylor was made months ago.

Carter believes they likely reached that decision shortly after Taylor was named as a defendant in a lawsuit fired by a former FS1 hairstylist in January.

“Fox had no choice but to fire her,” Carter recently said on his Fully Loaded podcast. “Anytime you have those rumors as far as someone as far as talent that has a relationship with an executive, which they were rumored to, her and Charlie Dixon who created all those shows. So, in their investigation, they gave Charlie time off, then eventually, they end up firing Charlie, which in turn, they tell you there’s some fire there in the woodpile.

“And they’re in a situation with Joy, with the lawsuit they really can’t do anything with her on the air until her contract runs out. Then they either give you a s***ty offer or they give you no offer. You’re out. And they had to burn down everything that Charlie had created.”

In the lawsuit filed against Fox Sports by a former FS1 hairstylist in January, Joy Taylor was accused of having sexual relations with Dixon and Emmanuel Acho. FS1 fired Dixon in April, and they moved on from Acho in this latest lineup overhaul. Carter also labeled Paul Pierce, Keyshawn Johnson, James Jones, Chase Daniel and LeSean McCoy losing their shows an act of friendly fire. They were a victim of timing.

“They had to tear all those shows down,” Carter continued of FS1 cutting three shows from their lineup. “Because of not only the rumors, but the stuff they found out in the investigation. That thing was ugly…Had to happen.”

Carter had his own unceremonious exit from Fox Sports nearly six years ago. In 2019, after two years of co-hosting First Things First with Nick Wright, FS1 parted ways with Carter following reports that the Hall-of-Fame wide receiver was upset that he wasn’t offered a role on Fox’s Thursday Night Football coverage. Carter now hosts a podcast and he expects Taylor to be able to bounce back quickly.

“She has a wealth of information, a wealth of experience and she can talk the game,” Carter said of Taylor. “And she got a good rolodex.”