A report from Variety about the downfall of Chris Licht at CNN attempted to paint the now former executive as the victim in a smear campaign from his predecessor Jeff Zucker. Keith Olbermann believes Licht was a source for the report, and doesn’t believe that will help him land a job in the future.
During his Countdown with Keith Olbermann podcast Thursday, the former cable news host argued that it was clear Licht was a major source for Tatiana Siegel’s report.
“The Hollywood industry publication Variety did a little revisionist history on the firing of Chris Licht at CNN. 4,000 words of it written by the executive editor of film and media, Tatiana Siegel, in which Licht is presented as the victim of a campaign of character assassination led by his predecessor Jeff Zucker. Which would be a neat trick since Chris Licht would need to have some character to be assassinated,” said Olbermann.
The report from Variety has been widely panned. The Atlantic writer Tim Alberta — who wrote the expose that ultimately led to Licht’s ouster — refuted several claims made by Siegel. Additionally, Jeff Zucker has reportedly asked for a retraction of the article after he was labeled as “bitter” about his CNN ouster and “desperate” to procure enough funding to someday purchase the network from Warner Bros. Discovery.
Olbermann continued by suggesting that many in the television news industry will place Licht on a blacklist for his supposed involvement in the story.
“It was suggested to me yesterday that if Chris Licht had any future left in television, he blew it with his obvious involvement in whatever way he was involved with the Variety piece that fell apart the day it was published,” Olbermann concluded. “It was suggested as well, that Licht might now be able to get a production assistants job on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Might.”
