CNN EVP and chief marketing officer Allison Gollust recently resigned from her position, two weeks after it was revealed she was in a consensual relationship with the network’s president, Jeff Zucker.
Zucker would resign after revealing this during an investigation into former CNN anchor Chris Cuomo. However, the details regarding Gollust’s departure are conflicting as The New York Times and Wall Street Journal offer different stories.
The report from The Times suggests that Gollust’s exit came after an internal investigation discovered that she had consulted interview matters as part of “extensive” communications with former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
Gollust’s spokesperson, Risa Heller, told the Times that the former CNN executive’s conversations with Cuomo was warranted. Gollust “in no way suggested that inclusion of these topics was a condition of the interview, nor did she suggest the interview should be limited to these subjects,” said Heller.
Meanwhile, the Journal alleges that Gollust left after WarnerMedia determined her information about her relationship with Zucker—and how it “changed during Covid”—was “misleading,” according to the sources in the story.
Gollust’s rep also commented on this story, stating that the allegation “reeks of sexism and only further underscores WarnerMedia’s retaliatory actions against her.”
After Gollust’s departure, WarnerMedia’s head of corporate communications and marketing James Anderson was placed as the interim head of communications at CNN Worldwide.
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.
