One-time wunderkind Chris Licht was yesterday ousted from his plum job at the helm of CNN, just one year into his contract after a calamitous series of jaw-dropping errors. Maybe someone should tell Chris Licht.
Mere hours after his boss seemed to solemnly take responsibility for hiring him in the first place, Page Six hears that Licht, 51, was living in up at the clubby Midtown haunt the Polo Bar with his similarly ejected former chief of staff, Devan Cayea, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Needless to say, and perhaps by design, the news spread quickly through the embattled network.
Said one CNN staffer — whose career, like so many of their colleagues, has been sent into a tailspin by Licht’s string of howlers — said, “It’s gross. He lit a network on fire for a year, left it in ruins, didn’t bother to send a goodbye note to the staff, and instead of saying he’s going to take a moment of reflection, he goes and hangs out at a sceney restaurant, all in an effort to make it look like he’s fine.”
They added, “He’s learned nothing.”
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The move does, indeed, seem to reflect the very same mix of hubris and insensitivity that was on display throughout the infamous Atlantic article published last weekend that both charted his downfall and provided the final nail in the coffin of his time at the network, forcing him to step down from the post.
Insiders say it’s not clear if he dined with Pelosi or just happened to run into her. Either way, they apparently posed together for pictures, which Cayea posted on Instagram. Cayea as well as a number of other top Licht lieutenants were also let go yesterday.
On Wednesday CNN’s corporate head, David Zaslav, told staff at its New York headquarters that he took “full responsibility” for Licht’s tenure.
The Warner Bros. Discovery CEO, who hired Licht — who had been a success as the executive producer of several shows, but was untested at the top of an entire network — praised Licht’s past successes.
But he said, “For a number of reasons, things didn’t work and that’s unfortunate and ultimately that’s on me. And I take full responsibility for that.” An interim leadership team has taken over while the company searches for a new CEO.
The former “Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and “Morning Joe” boss weathered a stream of disasters in his year-long stint at the network, from the embarrassing and messy collapse of his “CNN This Morning” show to his much-panned town hall with Donald Trump last month.
We weren’t able to reach a rep for Licht.