CNN Shake-Up: Network Toying With Bringing Back Chris Cuomo as They're Desperate for Another Anchor Before 2024 Election

Chris Cuomo was fired from CNN in 2021, but the news anchor could make a dramatic return to the network as they fight to maintain relevance.

According to an insider, there are whispers of Cuomo rejoining the CNN team after Gayle King and Charles Barkley's talk show, King Charles, was canceled due to its low viewership.

“The top brass are pulling their hair out trying to find a solution before the election really heats up,” an insider told an outlet. “They have Anderson Cooper, but they’re saying they need ‘another Chris.’ ”

“CNN insiders say there could be a deal to be made with Chris down the road — this is already being whispered about, and discussed quietly, but still unofficially," they continued.

Cuomo was let go from CNN after counseling his brother Andrew Cuomo when the former governor was accused of sexual harassment.

“Management has changed, and CNN could be ready to move beyond the old issues, especially since they have not been able to replicate Chris’ success with their audience," the insider explained.

“Although Chris isn’t talking about this openly . . . it’s generally accepted by his circle that he misses his old job, loves being on TV and making a difference on national topics of interest to everyone. He wants to be in Israel reporting on the war," they shared.

“American audiences love a comeback,” the source added. “It remains a longshot that CNN would amicably settle Chris’ lawsuit and bring him back, but stranger things have happened in TV when it comes down to ad dollars and almighty ratings.”

When Chris left the company, he told Anthony Scaramucci in a podcast interview that he wasn't an influential figure at CNN.

“I wasn’t set up to be [No. 1]. I wasn’t the big name there, I didn’t have the big team, they didn’t do the advertising about me," he divulged. "But I was still No. 1. Why? Because it was the best show. Because I was giving people what they needed in that moment."

Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!

OK! previously reported Chris was surprised by his former coworker Don Lemon's exit from CNN and Elon Musk pulling the plug on his X program.

Dan Abrams noted that “there’s just a huge power disparity, which is Elon Musk is really, really, really rich and really doesn’t care and decided, ‘I don’t like this interview. I don’t like the questions he’s asking. I’m done with him. I don’t want the kind of discussion anymore.'”

“Him showing up on CNN again was such a shock, and yet it was a pleasant shock for me. I was happy he got to go back,” Chris told Abrams on NewsNation said about Lemon. "The way they got rid of him, I know what that’s like and I know what it must have been like for Don and I’m glad that he was back there."

"I’d love to see him back," he told Abrams. "I think he’d be a great help to CNN.”

Sources spoke to Page Six.