NEWSCNN Shake-Up: Chris Licht's Drama-Filled Morning Show Axed After Don Lemon and Kaitlan Collins Exits
Former CEO of CNN Chris Licht's drama-filled morning show, called CNN This Morning, has been axed, an outlet reported on Monday, February 5.
According to Page Six, a memo went out announcing that early morning anchor Kasie Hunt will be given an extra hour while Poppy Harlow and Phil Mattingly will leave the line-up altogether. Hunt's show, Early Start, will run from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. and will take on the CNN This Morning title.
CNN News Central, anchored by John Berman, Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner, which had followed it, will then move to the 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. slot, with Jim Acosta and Pamela Brown taking over new hours at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.
As OK! previously reported, CNN This Morning featured Harlow, Kaitlan Collins, who has since moved to her own prime time show, and Don Lemon, who was fired last year after he said presidential hopeful Nikki Haley was "past her prime."
Don Lemon was fired from CNN in April 2023.
In June 2023, Lemon gave his first sit-down interview in which he shared his thoughts on why he was given the boot from the network.
Don Lemon said he didn't necessarily agree with Chris Licht while at the company.
“I have a responsibility as an American — not only as a journalist — to tell the truth and abide by the promises of the Constitution,” Lemon told ABC24 Memphis. “Because the Constitution says a more perfect union — not a perfect union. I’m not perfect. No one is.”
The 57-year-old journalist suggested that people should “stand up for what is right” to “fulfill the promise of the Constitution," insisting: “We have to stand up for the truth."
Kaitlan Collins now has her own show.
Lemon also didn't hold back while speaking about Licht, who announced in June 2023 that he would be stepping down from the position, hinting that he didn't think they should feature more conservative voices on the network.
“I don’t believe in platforming liars and bigots, insurrectionists and election deniers and putting them on the same footing as people who are telling the truth; people who are fighting for what’s right, people who are abiding by the Constitution," he stated.
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Chris Licht left the company in June 2023.
Lemon concluded, “I think that would be a dereliction of journalistic duty to do those sorts of things.”
Meanwhile, Chief executive of Warner Bros, CNN's parent company, David Zaslav told staffers that Licht would be leaving, effective immediately.
"For a number of reasons things didn’t work out, and that’s unfortunate," Zaslav revealed at the time, according to a recording obtained by a news outlet.
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"It’s really unfortunate, and ultimately that’s on me. And I take full responsibility for that," Zaslav said of Licht being hired in the first place.
