Friday, May 3, 2019

Shake-Up: Gayle King Remains, Goodbye To Norah O'Donnell

Norah O'Donnell and Gayle King
Norah O’Donnell is officially out as co-host of the struggling CBS This Morning — thanks to Gayle King.

The NYPost reports the new anchor lineup for “CBS This Morning” has been set and it doesn’t include O’Donnell because King — riding high off her big interview with R. Kelly — has demanded she be sent elsewhere.

“Norah is toxic,” a CBS insider said, explaining that the anchor is difficult to work with and is seen as having aided rumors about the impending exit of Jeff Glor, anchor of “CBS Evening News,” in her bid for his job.

According to The Post, the blood is so bad between the morning news co-hosts that King demanded O’Donnell be moved off the show as part of her recent contract negotiations, which kicked off after her now-infamous Kelly interview, the source said.

O’Donnell is still a coveted name at CBS, however, and has been offered a job that includes a chief political anchor role at the network in addition to Glor’s job as anchor of “CBS Evening News,” The Post has learned. She will also continue to appear on “60 Minutes,” a source said.

Glor, who has struggled to improve on the show’s third-place ranking, will likely be offered a correspondent or weekend anchor role, the source said.

CBS News president Susan Zirinsky denied that King had anything to do with O’Donnell leaving the morning show, which has fallen in the ratings since Charlie Rose was ousted over sexual harassment claims in 2017.

Besides King, the new morning show lineup includes “CBS This Morning Saturday” co-anchor Anthony Mason and CBS News correspondents Tony Dokoupil, a source said.

“CBS This Morning” co-host John Dickerson will move to “60 Minutes” in a political role.

Meanwhile, King has succeeded in her demands for her pay be bumped to more than double her current $5.5 million salary, sources said.

CBS News is forcefully denying the Post report that “CBS This Morning" co-host Gayle King demanded management remove her co-anchor Norah O'Donnell.

“This headline is offensive and 100 percent false," CBS News President Susan Zirinsky said in a Thursday statement, referring to the Post story titled “Gayle King pushes out Norah O’Donnell at ‘CBS This Morning.’”

1 comment:

  1. I didn't know CBS was still doing morning news. I thought they gave up on it already.

    ReplyDelete