Tucker Carlson abandons plan for studio near Maine home

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BRYANT POND, Maine (AP) — Fox News host Tucker Carlson said he's scuttling plans for a TV studio near his vacation home in rural Maine because of publicity.

Carlson planned to buy an old town garage and transform it into a studio under a deal that called for him to pay $30,000 for the building while Fox would pay to equip the studio, the Sun Journal newspaper reported .

But Carlson pulled the plug within hours of the news report Wednesday evening. Carlson described himself as "bitter" and "crushed" and called the news report a "total violation of my privacy."

He said Fox would never leave such expensive equipment in a small, rural studio whose presence is widely known.

The flap comes as Carlson deals with fallout from the disclosure by Media Matters of racist and sexist comments he made on "Bubba the Love Sponge" radio show years ago, before he joined Fox.

As for Bryant Pond, it holds a special place in Carlson's heart.

Carlson told the town that he's "spent virtually every summer of my life" at nearby Lake Christopher. He currently broadcasts occasionally from a room in the town library basement, which he rents for $2,500 a year, the newspaper reported.