CNN President Announces His Resignation to 'Stunned' Employees Amid Scandal
The longtime president of CNN, Jeff Zucker, announced his resignation on Wednesday morning, departing the network and revealing his romantic involvement with a female subordinate.
Brian Stelter, host of CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” expressed that employees of CNN were “stunned” by the development.
Zucker’s affair hadn’t been public knowledge before his announcement.
Jeff Zucker just announced his resignation to a stunned CNN. pic.twitter.com/sWXYNBO20d
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 2, 2022
Stelter went on to reveal that Zucker’s affair was with Allison Gollust, a chief marketing officer at CNN. Gollust intends to remain at CNN.
In her own statement, Gollust indicated that her relationship with Zucker had “changed” during the coronavirus pandemic and that she regretted not disclosing it at the right time.
“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,” Allison Gollust says in a statement.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 2, 2022
Zucker had been married as recently as 2019, divorcing his wife of more than 20 years that year.
It’s considered a violation of professional ethics in the corporate world for an executive of a company to have an affair with a subordinate colleague. Zucker’s relationship with Gollust could have negatively impacted CNN’s ability to cover sexual misconduct, with the channel’s president engaged in behavior considered inappropriate for any public figure.
Jason Kilar, the CEO of CNN’s parent company WarnerMedia, announced that the channel would implement an interim leadership plan following Zucker’s departure.
“We will be announcing an interim leadership plan shortly. Both of these organizations are at the top of their respective games and are well prepared for their next chapters,” Kilar said in a statement, WFSB reported.
The controversy is one of several incidents of sexual misconduct at CNN in recent months.
Host Chris Cuomo faced sexual harassment allegations after he was drummed out of the network for working with his brother, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to secure favorable news coverage when the governor was facing accusations of sexual misconduct.
Zucker’s allusions to CNN’s internal investigations into Cuomo suggests his own resignation may be connected to Cuomo’s ouster.
CNN producer John Griffin is facing criminal charges in the federal justice system for allegedly grooming underage girls, and prosecutors are even accusing him of soliciting sex acts from girls as young as 9 years old through their own mothers on an encrypted app.
Griffin could face a sentence equivalent to life in prison if convicted of the sex crimes charges.
The establishment media organization has seen its ratings decline precipitously since 2021, with viewers tuning out of a channel that largely declines to scrutinize Joe Biden and spends more time criticizing the editorial policies of Fox News than the policies of the U.S government.
Zucker had been considered largely responsible for transforming CNN’s coverage from left-leaning news content to what amounted to Trump-centric reality show TV during his tenure — a move that had some employees of the channel hailing his vision and others expressing disappointment at the changes he implemented.
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