(AP/TJV NEWS) CNN President Jeff Zucker abruptly resigned Wednesday after acknowledging a consensual relationship with another network executive, ending a nine-year tenure at the helm of the one of the nation’s largest media companies.
Zucker said he acknowledged the relationship when asked about it as part of an investigation into Chris Cuomo, the former CNN anchor who was fired after it was discovered that he aided his brother, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as he navigated a sexual harassment investigation.
“I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn’t,” Zucker wrote in a memo. “I was wrong.”
Jason Kilar, CEO of WarnerMedia, told employees in a memo that an interim leadership plan would be announced shortly.
Zucker, 56, has been an industry leader since he was executive producer of the “Today” show in the 1990s. In the following decade, he ran NBC’s entertainment division, where he was instrumental in putting Donald Trump on the reality show “The Apprentice.”
He rose to become chief of NBC Universal and left in 2010 when Comcast took over.
In a statement Zucker said he wished that his tenure at CNN had ended differently but, “it was an amazing run. And I loved every minute.”
As part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo’s tenure at CNN, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 years. I acknowledged the relationship evolved in recent years. I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn’t. I was wrong.
As a result I am resigning today.
Per CNN, Zucker’s inappropriate relationship was with Allison Gollust, CNN’s chief marketing officer. She’ll remain at CNN and released a statement of her own:
Jeff and I have been close friends and professional partners for over 20 years. Recently, our relationship changed during COVID. I regret that we didn’t disclose it at the right time. I’m incredibly proud of my time at CNN and look forward to continuing the great work we do everyday.”
Earlier this month, there were reports that the relationship between Zucker and Gollust were “involved in a clandestine romance dating back years.”
Zucker took over as CNN chief in 2013 and quickly drove the once-respected cable news outlet into the ground by moving the network to the extreme, which included the embracing of countless conspiracy theories and barrels of misinformation: the Russia Collusion Hoax, the Covington Kids, “Hands Up; Don’t Shoot,” among countless others.
Even more disturbing is how Zucker twisted CNN into a corporate media outlet that openly embraced political violence against the right and encouraged riots in predominantly black neighborhoods.
In the arena of ratings, after an anti-Trump sugar high, CNN watched its viewership collapse as much as 90 percent to humiliating numbers that would have seemed impossible pre-Zucker. As of this writing, CNN’s primetime averages only a little more than 500,000 viewers.
This is just the latest in a litany of unsavory sex scandals to hit the basement-rated outlet. Before he was fired, Chris Cuomo admitted to grabbing a colleague’s butt. CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin was caught masturbating on a work call. CNN suspended him and then, incredibly, allowed him to return. Two CNN producers are implicated in sex crimes involving children. The first, John Griffin, is charged with trolling underage girls for sex. The second was a producer for Jake Tapper’s basement-rated show.
On top of all that, CNN anchor Don Lemon has been credibly accused of a sexual assault and remains on the air, despite a viewership that regularly dips below 500,000.
Contains elements from John Notle (Breitbart)
