Last October, CNN placed its Legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin on leave after exposing himself on a Zoom call with colleagues at The New Yorker, where he has worked for the last 27 years.
“I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera. I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers,” Toobin said at the time. “I believed I was not visible on Zoom. I thought no one on the Zoom call could see me. I thought I had muted the Zoom video.”
Eight months away from the network, the Toobin has returned, per a CNN report. The contributor made an appearance on “CNN Newsroom” where he addressed the elephant in the room.
“I’m sorry to the people who read my work and who watched me on CNN who thought I was a better person than this. And so, you know, I got a lot to rebuild, but I feel very privileged and very lucky that I’m going to be able to try to do that,” Toobin said.
Furthermore, Toobin discussed his firing from The New Yorker, a decision that he felt was “excessive punishment.” Meanwhile, CNN took a different approach as they let Toobin take a leave of absence.
Some anchors and hosts at CNN also expressed a desire to have the contributor back; however, the analyst understands that not many will welcome him back on the air.
“I live in the world. I know social media, what the reactions are likely to be,” Toobin said. “I hope they will at least be mixed.”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
