Already a member? Log In

Chris Cuomo Isn’t Done with CNN

Chris Cuomo
Photo by Patrick McMullan via Getty
Matthew Belloni
February 6, 2022

So much of the media coverage of Jeff Zucker’s firing this week as CNN president has focused on the network. First it was the shock of rank-and-file staffers; then the impact on AT&T’s spinoff of WarnerMedia to Discovery and the launch of CNN+; then the tantrum that talent like Jake Tapper threw at the network’s D.C. bureau, where they directly confronted C.E.O. Jason Kilar, who dared fire their beloved leader—the leader that, incidentally, had anointed them TV stars and paid them large salaries to anchor mostly third-place shows.

My Puck colleague Dylan Byers has dived deep into the various CNN angles, and he’s got a new report tonight on the post-Zucker succession race. But I’m also interested in the Chris Cuomo story, itself essentially a talent story, and the impact of Zucker’s exit on the legal dispute regarding Cuomo’s ouster. Cuomo, who was fired in December for unethical behavior related to helping his brother, Andrew, fend off sexual harassment allegations, has quickly become the villain in the Zucker saga. As Tapper argued to Kilar, Cuomo is a “terrorist” who didn’t get the $18 million payout he wanted, so he decided to burn the place down. “How do we get past this perception that this is the bad guy winning?” Tapper asked.