Jeff Zucker was ousted as CNN president as a result of failing to disclose a consensual relationship with a senior network exec. While he accepted that he would leave his position this year, his intent was to remain on until March or whenever the announced merger was completed.
WarnerMedia Boots Jeff Zucker as CNN President for Not Disclosing Consensual Relationship as Merger Nears
However, the network had other plans and he was booted as president posthaste. CNN itself would report that during the meeting between Jeff Zucker and WarnerMedia brash, it was WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar to axed Zucker’s request and called for an immediate resignation.
Had he stayed on, he would’ve been integral to the big merger between Discovery and WarnerMedia, the parent company of CNN. In addition, he would’ve held his position upon the launch of the soon-to-launch streaming service CNN+.
The merger between the two cable giants is slated for sometime this summer. CEO Kilar announced that senior executives Amy Entelis, Ken Jautz, and Michael Bass would head up CNN until the Discovery-WarnerMedia merger was done.
Strong Pro-Zucker Loyalty Causes Issues in Kilar Decision
Zucker’s resignation comes in the wake of Chris Cuomo’s firing from CNN in December. Cuomo was dropped as a result of using media connections to assist in damage control for his brother and former NY governor Andrew Cuomo’s sexual misconduct allegations.
That messy situation came months after Cuomo was bouncing back from his own sexual misconduct situation. CNN opting to fire Cuomo was pretty much the match strike for all of this as he mentioned that higher-ups were aware of what he was doing.
In the aftermath of Cuomo’s firing, other questionable actions came up including Zucker’s consensual relationship with Allison Gollust, a senior exec in CNN. The entire situation has left Jason Kilar to tackle some hard questions and raised more questions about what else is going down at 1 CNN Center.
An important question that Kilar sidestepped and actually raises more questions is the overall timeline surrounding Zucker being released. He only answered that everything was done according to a process that addressed the issue quickly.
It was also reported that during the big to address Zucker’s release and the process going forward, several of CNN’s major hosts were present and there were grumblings about Zucker being dropped as CNN president. This was driven home by the fact that Cuomo was given a second chance after his issue came up and fumbled it not too long afterward.
Meanwhile, Zucker had to return to the dugout after strike one. In speaking with Vanity Fair, a staffer summed up the general feeling of the Zucker decision. It points to Kilar being so far removed from the climate in CNN that the strong loyalty towards Zucker wasn’t considered:
“Lots of anger. Lots of corporate doublespeak. He had no answers and didn’t come across as aware of what was going on at CNN, or cognizant of how people felt about Jeff.”
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