Longtime CNN anchor Jim Acosta was rumored to be next on the chopping block amid the network’s purge of woke staff following its $48billion merger with Warner Bros. – however, sources are now claiming that those rumors are false.
The supposed talks concerning the famously woke anchor – who has used his platform to repeatedly pan Donald Trump and competing outlets such as Fox News – surfaced Tuesday, in a series of tweets from journalist Jon Nicosia.
The posts saw Nicosia, a former editor for Mediaite and The Washington Examiner, tease that a ‘big name’ would be leaving the network in the coming days, according to the word of an unnamed Discovery executive.
Asserting that he had promised to keep the exec’s identity a secret until the end of the week, Nicosia on Friday – after much anticipation – identified the staffer as 15-year veteran Acosta, CNN’s chief domestic correspondent.
Nicosia’s revelation, at the time, seemed, believable – given recent reports that CNN has been working to purge itself of the reputation of being a woke media source since new boss Chris Licht pledged to make the network reliable to the people again by halting the slander of Republicans.
Moreover, 52-year-old Acosta was reportedly seen as ‘the main Trump lightning rod’ between the ‘old’ CNN and the new owners’ non-partisan aspirations for the network, for his outspokenness against him during his term and clear liberal bias.
‘He will either go quick, or with a lot of internal pushback, Nicosia wrote of the seasoned newsman.
However, in this case, the talk seems to be nothing more than the result of inaccurate speculation, with several sources within CNN separately confirming that the rumors are exactly that – rumors.
‘Absolute bullsh*t,’ one of the insiders told Mediaite about the rumors, further explaining that Licht, who replaced ousted boss Jeff Zucker last February, had made it clear Acosta was safe and not going anywhere.
Another source from within the network separately confirmed that sentiment on Sunday, revealing that Licht has even voiced his personal support for Acosta, who hosts the network’s CNN Newsroom on weekends.
Acosta – who would have joined progressive hosts such as John Harwood and Brian Stelter in being nixed – has long been at odds with the Republican party, and even became embroiled in a highly publicized feud with then-president Trump during his presidency.
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