CBS News star Norah O’Donnell is frantically pleading with viewers to give her a chance as she prepares to return to CBS Mornings as co-host with Gayle King.
The network announced that O’Donnell, who was removed from the Evening News desk in January 2025, would be returning to co-host the Mornings show after she exited that show in 2019. Fans loudly expressed their disappointment in the comments section of CBS Mornings’ Instagram post, accusing the news anchor of “taking the bait” by once again moving up in rank at the increasingly Trump-friendly network.
O’Donnell, who has also been elevated to a main correspondent at the refashioned 60 Minutes, apparently couldn’t help but jump in to defend both herself and MAGA-curious boss Bari Weiss.
In reply to one fan who told O’Donnell to “go to another network,” instead of rejoining the show since they “will never watch another minute of CBS programming after the Colbert/60 Minutes fiasco,” O’Donnell shot back with one of several replies.
“Thanks for commenting. Give us a try,” she wrote from her own Instagram account. She continued picking out negative comments to reply to, writing to one fan who said, “This is tough, but I can’t watch CBS anymore with Bari Weiss running things. Love Nora tho,” that the sentiment “made no sense.”
“Watch our show,” she wrote.
CBS underwent a Trump-friendly makeover last August, after Skydance acquired its parent company, Paramount, and Trump-shmoozing Skydance CEO David Ellison installed Free Press founder Weiss as the head of CBS News.
Critics believe Skydance’s coziness with Trump influenced Paramount’s decision to ax Trump foe Stephen Colbert and his Late Show ahead of the merger, as the host had criticized the company for “bribing” the president on air just days before the cancellation announcement.
O’Donnell told fans that skipping CBS News content in light of the network’s pro-Trump actions was “silly.”
“I feel Norah is too good to stay with CBS,” wrote one fan on CBS’s announcement of her return. “I wish some other news force had scooped her up. As long as Bari Weiss and the Ellisons are in charge bye bye.”
Replied O’Donnell, “This is so silly. Just watch our show!”
The desperate online pleas follow reports that O’Donnell and King are “frenemies” who are not exactly gung-ho about working together again.
“She does not want Norah to return to the show,” a source claimed to the New York Post about King’s trepidation about the shake-up.
However, a network source claimed to The Wrap that King was a “full-time partner” in the search for a third co-host to fill the seat vacated by newly minted CBS Evenings host Tony Dokoupil.
“King and O’Donnell, who have worked together for 15 years, are friends who respect each other’s work and bring complementary perspectives to the broadcast,” the source added.
