CNN President Resigns After Admitting to Relationship with Colleague [Video]

• CNN chief Jeff Zucker has announced his resignation on Wednesday.
• Zucker confirmed that he had a consensual relationship with a colleague and was not able to disclose it when it started.
• The colleague in question is Allison Gollust, CNN’s chief marketing officer, who has been working closely with Zucker.

CNN chief Jeff Zucker has resigned from the company on Wednesday.

His decision came after the investigation into fired anchor Chris Cuomo revealed that Zucker had an undisclosed consensual relationship with a colleague.

Zucker admitted to that relationship with his “closest colleague” of over 20 years. He stated, “I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn’t. I was wrong,” especially since ” the relationship evolved in recent years.”

The colleague in question is Allison Gollust, CNN’s current chief marketing officer. She has worked closely with Zucker since his time at NBC News.

Zucker quickly rose to the top as the executive producer for that company’s “Today” show, then went on to oversee NBC Entertainment and then NBCUniversal as a whole when it was owned by General Electric.

When Zucker came to CNN in 2013, Gollust was one of his first hires. When he changed her role so she would report more directly to corporate, it drew some ire from WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar.

Gollust explained, “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.”

She added that she would still like to stay at the company, saying, “I’m incredibly proud of my time at CNN and look forward to continuing the great work we do everyday.”

Zucker also oversees Turner Sports and supervises the bulk of WarnerMedia’s live programming, so his resignation has put the management of WarnerMedia’s assets into disarray weeks before Discovery is expected to take over the company.

Kilar stated, “I have accepted Jeff Zucker’s resignation as Chairman of WarnerMedia News and Sports, and President of CNN Worldwide. We thank Jeff for his contributions over the past 9 years.”

He then assured everyone that “Both of these organizations are at the top of their respective games and are well prepared for their next chapters.”

Some of Zucker’s colleagues were devastated by the news.

Late primetime anchor Don Lemon described Zucker as “the best boss we have ever had, and one of the best things that has ever happened to CNN.” He added that Zucker was the “glue” who “made us relevant again.”

CNN had been lagging behind Fox News Channel and MSNBC before Zucker joined in 2013. These rival networks’ most-watched programs focused on partisan discussion, a tactic that Zucker adopted when he came in.

This allowed anchors such as Chris Cuomo, Brianna Keilar, Lemon, and Van Jones to gain traction recently when they offered more insight and commentary than their predecessors.

Source: Aol.com