Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav reportedly gave fired CNN anchor Don Lemon a $1,600 bottle of wine as a peace gift while they dined at a Manhattan steakhouse. It has been reported.
Lemon, who was fired by CNN last year after a series of high-profile on-air and behind-the-scenes incidents that alienated viewers and colleagues, appeared at Opus One in 2017 while dining with husband Tim Malone at Porter. -Received a bottle of Cabernet Blend. A home near Columbus Circle last month, according to Pac News.
The CEO of CNN’s parent company, Zaslav, was at the same restaurant on a double date with his wife, Pam Zaslav, and billionaire private equity mogul David Rubenstein and his spouse, Caryn Zucker. Pac News reported.
Caryn Zucker is the ex-wife of former CNN president Jeff Zucker, who resigned after it was revealed that he had carried on a long-term relationship with an executive subordinate.
lemon, He reportedly received $24.5 million in a separation agreement with CNN.Pac News said he was reportedly so moved by Zaslav’s gesture that he even got up and approached the table to talk.
The two had previously met by chance at Barney Greengrass, a famous Jewish deli on the Upper West Side. Mr. Zaslav and Mr. Lemon exchanged “innocent pleasantries,” Pac News reported.
Last April, Lemon ended his 17-year tenure at CNN, during which he reportedly alienated colleagues and management with his antics and comments.
In December 2022, Lemon, a former prime-time host who was demoted to co-anchor of the weekday morning show along with Poppy Harlow and Caitlan Collins, said women’s soccer was less interesting than men’s soccer and said she was a co-anchor. was reprimanded by
Last February, the Post reported that Lemon became enraged and yelled at Collins, who interrupted him off-air, in front of his colleagues.
Sources told The Post that Collins was so upset by the incident that she stormed out of the studio.
A few days after the incident, Lemon caused further controversy by saying on air that Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, 51, was “not in her prime.” The ensuing backlash led to the network suspending Lemon.
Lemon also said during a tense April interview with Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy that African-Americans won equal rights in the United States with the help of the National Rifle Association, producers told reportedly ignored.
A few days after the interview, Lemon was fired.
He has since resurfaced with his own show, which was originally scheduled to stream exclusively on X.
But Mr. Lemon’s exorbitant demands for the Tesla Cybertruck, millions of dollars in upfront payments, and final approval authority over Company X’s news content alienated executives at social media companies. Negotiations were terminated after a controversial debut interview with owner Elon Musk.
Zaslav certainly could afford expensive wine. Last year, he was paid $49.7 million as part of his compensation package by Warner Bros. Discovery, even though the company’s stock hit an all-time low earlier this week.
The decline in WBD stock comes as NBCUniversal considers an aggressive bid to acquire the rights to broadcast National Basketball Association games, a valuable television asset that has been home to WBD-owned Turner Sports for decades. This was triggered by reports that he was doing so.
WBD stock rebounded Thursday, soaring more than 3% as of 2 p.m. ET. It was selling for about $7.90 per share.
The stock has lost about 70% of its value since it began trading on Wall Street in April 2022, when the merger between WarnerMedia and Discovery was completed, which was spun off from AT&T.
Zaslav, who is on a mission to cut costs at debt-ridden WBD, previously said his company “doesn’t need to have an NBA,” but Wall Street observers begged to differ.
According to the Wall Street Journal, NBCUniversal is willing to offer an average of $2.5 billion a year for the rights to broadcast NBA games.
Losing the NBA could make it more difficult for WBD to charge cable and streaming companies the freight it wants.
