The comic-tragedy of the Jeff Zucker affair at CNN is better than a real-life opera. Hell, it's better than a real-life actual opera. It's Pucciniesqe in its over-the-top, dramatic, entangled storylines.
Where do we begin?
First, Zucker's statement.
"As part of the investigation into Chris Cuomo's tenure at CNN, I was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 years," he wrote, without ever naming his paramour.
Never mind. CNN's Brian Stelter outed his co-worker. Zucker was "Zucking" Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Allison Gollust.
So, now, Gollust's statement.
"Jeff and I have been close friends and professional partners for over 20 years. Recently, our relationship changed during COVID. I regret that we didn't disclose it at the right time," Gollust said later in a subsequent statement. "I'm incredibly proud of my time at CNN and look forward to continuing the great work we do every day."
Zucker entered into a consensual relationship with a co-worker and failed to report it. He is stepping down. She expects to continue her job at CNN.
Well, there you go. Pretty cut and dry.
Except... it's not.
Who is Allison Gollust? Well, before joining Zucker CNN, she was the Comms Director for none other than disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo. Zucker first hired her as an executive at NBC when he was in charge of that network's entertainment division. She left NBC in 2012 to handle comms for Cuomo, and then she followed Zucker to CNN.
See how it works?
Katie Couric revealed some bizarre observations about the Zucker/Gollust "friendship" in her recent memoir (via NY Post):
“She and her husband and kids had moved into the apartment right above Jeff and Caryn’s — everyone who heard about their cozy arrangement thought it was super strange,” Couric wrote. “By that point, Caryn had become a close friend and it made me really uncomfortable.”
Couric added that Zucker insisted on hiring Gollust during his tenure at NBC even though her position was long filled.
“At a certain point, Jeff made a huge push to bring on Allison Gollust (at the ‘Today Show’),” Couric wrote. “I had to wonder why Jeff was angling so hard to bring Allison on board.”
“They were joined at the hip,” Couric continued.
And, even more deliciously (this is where the soap opera angle gets really good), it appears the relationship that led to Zucker resigning in disgrace and outing this tawdry affair to the world was deliberately revealed by Chris Cuomo, the former governor's brother who was recently dismissed from CNN for his own inappropriate sexual conduct.
"Notice Zucker mentioned how this came from the Cuomo investigation," a senior CNN source told The Daily Beast. "People think this is clearly Cuomo dragging down Zucker on his way out."
So... let's check our scorecards.
Zucker hired Gollust in the mid-90s and promoted and pushed her across the NBC spectrum. They're "joined at the hip," and they even got condos in the same building, one floor apart. Gollust then left NBC and took a politically partisan job as Comms Director for Gov. Andrew Cuomo. She eventually left that job, and Zucker hired her back to be his "wing-gal" at CNN. Zucker then enticed Chris Cuomo to leave ABC and take a gig at CNN.
When the Covid pandemic hit, Cuomo had his brother, the governor, on his show multiple times. During his fluff interviews, he never once asked his brother about his deadly orders to send Covid-positive individuals to nursing homes, which resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly New Yorkers. He never once asked about the multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against the governor, which eventually led to his resignation.
In fact, not only does Zucker and Cuomo's former aide Gollust (Zucker's girlfriend) and Chris (the governor's brother) use the network to protect Andrew Cuomo, they shamelessly promoted the guy as a potential presidential candidate (alongside their promotion of Michael Avenatti for the same gig).
Finally, Cuomo resigned in disgrace, and Chris Cuomo's behavior fell under scrutiny. The extent of his work supporting his brother and smearing his accusers comes to light, and he is summarily dismissed. And, now, during the battle over his dismissal, Chris Cuomo burned the whole damn thing down by outing the relationship that he (and apparently everyone else at CNN) knew about for years.
Did you follow along?
These are all awful, terrible human beings. And they all flow through the non-stop revolving door between "journalism," Democratic Party politics, and government power.
It's what Andrew Breitbart called "The Democrat Media Complex," and boy would I love to hear from him right about now.
