Ex-boss Jeff Zucker is still ‘sounding board’ for stressed CNN staff
After disastrous CNN boss Chris Licht was pushed out at CNN, the stress from his reign remains, according to multiple sources.
Another axed CNN honcho, Jeff Zucker, is apparently still the mentor for the distressed cable news staff, even after David Zaslav’s Discovery takeover of the channel.
“[Jeff’s] been a great sounding board for everyone during what has been a really difficult year since he left,” a source told Page Six.
Our source tells us, “Just because [Licht] is gone doesn’t mean the stress at CNN is gone. Zaslav is still very involved.”
Star anchor Jake Tapper, for one, seems happy with new management. “I’m bummed that it didn’t work out with Chris,” he said on Kara Swisher’s podcast. “But I will say that things are really good right now.”
In February 2022, Zucker and his longtime girlfriend, Allison Gollust, were ousted after their workplace romance was exposed.
In April 2022, the “most trusted name in news” canceled its infant CNN Plus streaming service before it even got off the ground, when Zaslav took over as part of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger.
In a series of CNN follies, primetime star Don Lemon was moved to a morning show that saw its ratings sink faster than the Titanic, and was later axed after being accused of sexism and toxic workplace scandals.
(Lemon claims the network fired him for refusing to put up with “bigots and liars” on-air).
Then Licht — whom several sources told us staffers didn’t trust — was given the boot after enduring crises including a disastrous town hall with Donald Trump.
The exec was also the subject of an embarrassing profile in the Atlantic.
Senior leaders of the p.r. team were also canned.
But Zucker still seems to be the one most staffers trust.
Tapper also stated, “I adored Jeff, and I would like for Jeff not to have left, but he did.”
CNN’s former boss also had a reunion of sorts last weekend at Lemon’s Sag Harbor home, where they celebrated the network’s former contributor and “The View” host Sunny Hostin’s new book, “Summer on Sag Harbor.”
Current CNN anchors Abby Phillips and Alisyn Camerota were also on the scene, and a photo of Zucker holding hands with the Camerota had tongues wagging. But several sources told Page Six they are just “old friends.”
“Jeff was instrumental in Alisyn’s career at CNN,” said one source. “She is one of many people Jeff has kept in touch with.”
Another source told us that Gollust was right behind them, and that the trio headed for coffee at the American Hotel after.
Zucker, Gollust, Lemon and his fiancé, Tim Malone, have been spending a lot of time together this summer.
They were spotted in Italy for power agent Jay Sures’ wedding, and later got together again for dinner at Kissaki in Water Mill.
