Internet Erupts After Brian Stelter Is Ousted by CNN: ‘Contemptible, Vapid, And Unbearably Smug’

On Thursday, CNN host Brian Stelter announced that, due to the cancellation of his low-rated, partisan news show, he would be leaving the company. The internet had something of a field day in response.

Stelter will host his final episode on Sunday and said in a statement that it was a “rare privilege” to lead a show that examined what he called the “truth.”

“CNN will end its ‘Reliable Sources’ program on Sunday, August 21st,” a spokesperson for CNN said in a statement. “As a result Brian Stelter will leave the company. We appreciate his contributions to the network and wish him well as he embarks on new endeavors.”

New CNN chief Chris Licht told Stelter of the decision to cancel his show, “Reliable Sources,” yesterday, according to reports. Licht has reportedly begun to evaluate particularly partisan hosts and showrunners in an effort to see if they will be able to adapt to the network’s new priority to be less partisan. Licht has reportedly set a goal, aiming to dial down the extreme partisanship that has plagued the network in recent years.

Stelter, however, clearly didn’t make the cut, and the news of his ousting sparked more than a few comments bashing him, with many remarking on his toxic impact on the news industry. 

“Brian Stelter was the most contemptible, vapid, and unbearably smug news-tv character of the past two decades. Good riddance,” Washington Examiner columnist Harry Khachatrian wrote on Twitter. “His departure has ameliorated cable news.”

“Brian Stelter was the product of a new paradigm in American media, where journalists see themselves as a prestigious guild with a specific set of class interests,” National Review writer Nate Hochman tweeted. “His job was to defend his guild, no matter what—even if it came at the cost of the truth.”

Others took a more lighthearted approach in their reactions to the news.

“Everyone’s dunking on Brian Stelter since his show got canceled, but I honestly feel really bad for his fan,” conservative political commentator Allie Beth Stuckey said.

Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury Monica Crowley tweeted, “Brian Stelter AND Liz Cheney getting canned the same week is like Christmas, Mardi Gras and Independence Day all at the same time.”