CNN has a long way to go to rehabilitate its reputation as a left-wing propaganda outlet, but the network may be heading in the right direction.
Amid reports that major staffing and personality changes are afoot, one of the network’s longtime legal analysts, Jeffrey Toobin, is moving on.
You remember him – he was busted in 2020 for ‘exposing himself’ during a sexual act on a live Zoom call after he wrongly assumed he was off-camera. The network kept him, but New Yorker Magazine fired him.
“I wanted to let you know that after twenty years I’ve decided to leave CNN after my vacation,” Toobin said in a letter to colleagues, per Variety. “It was great to spend my last day on air, like so many before, with my pals at [The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer], [Anderson Cooper 360] and Don Lemon Tonight. It’s been a privilege (and fun) being your colleague. The work of CNN is enormously important, and I know you’ll continue doing it with the same passion and intelligence as always.”
Toobin spent 20 years at CNN.
He also made the announcement public in a tweet Friday afternoon, while also promoting an upcoming book.
“Friends, I’ve decided that, after 20 years, I’m leaving @cnn after my vacation,” Toobin tweeted. “Was great to spend my last day on air with pals Wolf, Anderson and Don. Love all my former colleagues. Watch for my next book, about the Oklahoma City bombing, coming in 2023 from [Simon and Schuster].
Variety went on to report that while it wasn’t known whether his contract expired with CNN, Toobin’s exit appeared to be part of a mutual agreement. “We are grateful for Jeffrey’s contributions to the network over the years and wish him all the best in his future endeavors,” CNN said in a statement, according to Variety.
The New York Post adds:
Toobin’s 27-year career with the New Yorker was marred by an October 2020 Zoom call with colleagues where he was seen pleasuring himself. Conde Nast, the magazine’s parent company, axed Toobin after a three-week investigation, but he returned to the airwaves on CNN in July 2021 after a leave of absence.
Upon his return to CNN, Toobin addressed the controversy and called it “deeply moronic.”
“I didn’t think other people could see me,” Toobing told anchor Alisyn Camerota.“I have tried, and I am trying now, to say how sorry I am, sincerely, in all seriousness.
“Above all, I am sorry to my wife and to my family but I am also sorry to the people on the Zoom call, I’m sorry to my former colleagues at the New Yorker, I’m sorry to my current, fortunately, still colleagues at CNN and I’m sorry to the people who read my work and who watched me on CNN and thought I was a better person than this,” he noted further.
Needless to say, Toobin was the brunt of jokes from several conservatives online, per The Daily Wire.
“He’s quitting to spend more time with himself,” podcaster Noam Blum quipped.
“Apparently, among the other things that he has his hands on, he’ll have his hands on plenty of time,” conservative activist Ned Ryun wrote.
“Jeffrey Toobin is leaving CNN to spend some more time with himself,” journalist Stephen L. Miller responded.
“And sometimes he really shows his love for his colleagues,” New York Post writer Kelly Jane Torrance tweeted.
