This is Embarrassing....
Anyone that has spent any time in TV news knows that people come and go all the time in this business.
Some move onto other jobs in the industry, some move onto other jobs outside the industry, some retire, some get fired, and some leave to “spend more time with their family”, which is the polite way of saying there were fired.
CNN boss Jeff Zucker fits into the “he was fired” category.
Zucker was exited for dating a subordinate and hiding that fact from his bosses. Although, almost everyone that worked at CNN knew that Zucker and CNN comms chief Allison Gollust were dating.
While many inside CNN and outside the network think that Zucker lasted much longer at the struggling cable network than he should have, some of Zucker’s pets are still in shock that he was ousted.
In fact, they even went on the air to voice their displeasure with the fact that Zucker was kicked to the curb.
Don Lemon got choked up talking about Zucker’s ousting and he even had a bit of a Freudian slip.
While speaking about Zucker, Lemon said, "...thank you Jeff Zucker for everything you did for everyone at this network and for what you did to the entire country -- for the entire country."
He was right the first time, what Jeff Zucker DID to this entire country is help divide the country even more.
I have said this a number of times and I stand by this, cable news (Fox News, CNN, MSNBC) has done more to divide this country than any political party or politician, including Donald Trump.
And speaking of Trump, it was Jeff Zucker that put every Trump rally on CNN, start to finish, during the 2016 election. Zucker saw Trump has a way to prop up the ratings and gave Trump millions in free air time and an unfair advantage to winning the election.
Then, Zucker’s CNN spent the next 5 years trying to tear down the Trump presidency.
ON Sunday, Brian Stelter who has parroted Jeff Zucker for nearly a decade took his turn in talking about Zucker’s firing.
While it was way too inside baseball for even the most hardcore CNN viewer, that was not who Stelter was talking to in his Zucker rant.
Stelter’s diatribe was directed at times to the bosses that fired Jeff Zucker and the bosses that will be replacing Jeff Zucker. He then spent part of his time, where he was apparently speaking directly to Chris Cuomo.
Stelter blames Cuomo for getting Zucker sacked, despite the fact that it was Zucker’s actions that got him fired.
Imagine if you will that Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott was dating Fox News comms boss Irena Briganti and tried to keep the relationship secret from her bosses and from the staff.
Do you think Brian Stelter would have thought this was okay?
Of course, he wouldn’t have and he would be commenting on how Scott and Briganti both be fired.
It was clear that in his Sunday morning comments, Stelter was speaking directly to anyone but the viewers.
Stelter said in his commentary/whining about Jeff Zucker that he hasn’t spoken to Zucker since his ousting. He might not have spoken to him, but you can damn well bet that texts or emails were exchanged.
I mean, come on? Stelter’s comments about Zucker could not have been more flattering, even if Zucker himself wrote them.
Hmmmmmm?
As we said at the beginning, people come and go in this business all the time. The fact that Lemon and Stelter went on the air and tried to canonize Jeff Zucker was an embarrassment for CNN and journalism as a whole.
Jeff Zucker got exactly what he deserved and I would agree with the many that say, this should have happened a long time ago.
Oh! One more thing, Don Lemon says he is the only person of color hosting a prime-time show on cable news.
Hey Don, MSNBC’s Joy Reid is on line 1 for you.
One more thing, we aren’t the only one that thinks this is embarrassing.