One-time wunderkind Chris Licht was yesterday ousted from his plum job on the helm of CNN only one yr into his contract after a calamitous sequence of jaw-dropping errors. Possibly somebody ought to inform Chris Licht.
Mere hours after his boss appeared to solemnly take accountability for hiring him within the first place, Web page Six hears that Licht, 51, was residing in up on the clubby Midtown hang-out the Polo Bar along with his equally ejected former chief of employees, Devan Cayea, and former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Evidently, and maybe by design, the information unfold shortly via the embattled community.
Mentioned one CNN staffer — whose profession, like so a lot of their colleagues, has been despatched right into a tailspin by Licht’s string of howlers — stated, “It’s gross. He lit a community on hearth for a yr, left it in ruins, didn’t trouble to ship a goodbye word to the employees, and as an alternative of claiming he’s going to take a second of reflection, he goes and hangs out at a sceney restaurant, all in an effort to make it seem like he’s tremendous.”
They added, “He’s discovered nothing.”
The transfer does, certainly, appear to replicate the exact same mixture of hubris and insensitivity that was on show all through the notorious Atlantic article revealed final weekend that each charted his downfall and offered the ultimate nail within the coffin of his time on the community, forcing him to step down from the put up.
Insiders say it’s not clear if he dined with Pelosi or simply occurred to run into her. Both manner, they apparently posed collectively for footage, which Cayea posted on Instagram. Cayea in addition to a lot of different prime Licht lieutenants had been additionally let go yesterday.
On Wednesday CNN’s company head, David Zaslav, informed employees at its New York headquarters that he took “full accountability” for Licht’s tenure.
The Warner Bros. Discovery CEO, who employed Licht — who had been a hit as the chief producer of a number of exhibits, however was untested on the prime of a complete community — praised Licht’s previous successes.
However he stated, “For a lot of causes, issues didn’t work and that’s unlucky and finally that’s on me. And I take full accountability for that.” An interim management staff has taken over whereas the corporate searches for a brand new CEO.
The previous “Late Present with Stephen Colbert” and “Morning Joe” boss weathered a stream of disasters in his year-long stint on the community, from the embarrassing and messy collapse of his “CNN This Morning” present to his much-panned city corridor with Donald Trump final month.
We weren’t capable of attain a rep for Licht.