David Zaslav faced a dilemma. Research showed him that multiple CNN personalities had given his recently acquired news network too far a leftward bend. Yet acting on that data and axing some of those figures could stain the tenure of Chris Licht, CNN’s newly hired CEO, in its infancy.
So to protect one of those key personalities, Licht did what anyone would do with a controversial star: He moved Don Lemon to mornings. That lasted five months before Lemon was shown the door—at Zaslav’s behest.
A new New York Times profile of Zaslav’s handling of CNN for nearly two years shed new light on how the Warner Bros. Discovery CEO navigated the network’s often tumultuous relationship with Lemon, a CNN stalwart known for his fiery opinions and who long appeared across the network’s programming, including in primetime and New Year’s Eve. What was once a social, friendly relationship between the two masked, according to the Times, a desire by Zaslav to see Lemon removed from the air.
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Upon acquiring the network, and with the forthcoming merger of WarnerMedia and Discovery, Zaslav felt CNN had taken too much of an overtly partisan tilt against former President Donald Trump, the Times further reported. That tone was largely set by CNN’s then-CEO Jeff Zucker, who defended the network’s anti-Trump focus in a fall 2021 golf outing with Zaslav and others, the Times revealed.
Zucker’s opinion on the network ultimately wouldn’t matter long, as an internal probe of his office romance with his top lieutenant led to his firing just before Zaslav assumed control.
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That still left Zaslav with various CNN figures who, research showed, personified CNN’s partisan tenor. Those included Lemon and Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter, according to the Times.
Stelter was fired in August last year, but Licht tried to keep Lemon in the fold, moving him to mornings to help him keep his job. That move proved unpopular with Lemon, the Times story notes, but he accepted the shift with the understanding that Zaslav continued to have his back. The two had been friends for more than a decade, according to the Times, and texted about Licht’s waning reputation among CNN staffers.
Zaslav’s apparent frustration with Lemon himself didn’t seem to register. After Lemon said on-air that former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley was not “in her prime” to run for president—and subsequently sparked a near-revolt inside CNN—Zaslav questioned Licht on why Lemon still had a job.
“Why hasn’t he been fired?” Zaslav asked, according to the Times. The Warner Bros. Discovery CEO also promised shareholders that Lemon would be gone by Memorial Day, the Times added. Lemon was eventually fired on April 24—the same day Fox News shockingly axed host Tucker Carlson.
But Zaslav tried to mend their relationship after the pink-slipping, the Times reported, telling Lemon over breakfast in the Upper West Side that he was sorry for how the anchor was treated at CNN.
It was Chris Licht’s fault Lemon was fired, Zaslav reportedly told the former CNN star. Licht was canned in June.
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