CNN’s Chris Licht blindsided by ouster, had meetings on calendar
Chris Licht was blindsided by his ouster as CEO of CNN, Page Six hears.
Insiders say the out-the-door exec had meetings on his calendar for Wednesday, which — as of Tuesday night — he was expecting to attend.
The company announced on Wednesday morning that he’d resigned as CEO.
Licht had bounced from one crisis to another throughout his roughly year-long term at the top of the network, facing everything from the embarrassing collapse of his “CNN This Morning” experiment, to a much-panned Donald Trump town hall, to star anchor Don Lemon’s ugly firing.
But we’re told that after a mortifying profile in the Atlantic was published over the weekend, the infamously confident Licht thought he was going to ride it out.
Licht addressed the story internally on Monday, reportedly telling staffers, “I fully recognize that this news cycle, and my role in it, overshadowed the incredible week of reporting that we just had, and distracted from the work of every single journalist in this org. And for that, I am sorry.”
He added, “To those whose trust I’ve lost, I will fight like hell to win it back, because you deserve a leader who will be in the trenches, fighting to ensure CNN remains the world’s most trusted name in news.”
Sources tell us that his longtime pal Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav surprised Licht when he delivered the news that he’s being replaced by an interim leadership team, including executive vice president of editorial Virginia Moseley, executive vice president of programming Eric Sherling and executive vice president of talent Amy Entelis.
David Leavy, a Zaslav confidante, was appointed COO just last week to shore up the struggling Licht.
“As of last night, he was expecting to be in meetings on Wednesday,” an insider told us. “He wasn’t expecting this. Definitely not so soon, anyway.”
Licht had previously been the executive producer of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on CBS.
Page Six reported back in March that Zaslav had privately lost faith in Licht, even while supporting him publicly.
Reps for CNN didn’t immediately get back to us.
