Allison Gollust has resigned as CNN‘s executive vice president and chief marketing officer and lashed out at the network’s ‘disastrous handling’ of an internal probe into her inappropriate open-secret relationship with former network president Jeff Zucker and the termination of Chris Cuomo.
The 49-year-old left the network following a third-party investigation into ‘issues associated with Chris Cuomo and former Governor Andrew Cuomo,’ WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar said in a statement.
Initial reports indicated that Chris Cuomo was fired for using his media influence to help coach his brother, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, through sexual assault allegations. On Tuesday, shortly after it was learned that Gollust resigned, it was revealed that Chris was facing an allegation of sexual assault from when he worked at ABC News.
Over the weekend, the investigation, which began in September, concluded that Gollust, Zucker and Chris Cuomo violated company policies including Standards and Practices, Kilar shared. ‘Based on interviews of more than 40 individuals and a review of over 100,000 texts and emails.’
‘I realize this news is troubling, disappointing, and frankly, painful to read. These are valid feelings many of you have,’ Kilar noted.
Gollust acknowledged her exit in a bitter email to her staff claiming that CNN was trying to undermine her in public. ‘WarnerMedia’s statement tonight is an attempt to retaliate against me and change the media narrative in the wake of their disastrous handling of the last two weeks.
‘It is deeply disappointing that after spending the past nine years defending and upholding CNN’s highest standards of journalistic integrity, I would be treated this way as I leave. But I do so with my head held high, knowing I gave my heart and soul to working with the finest journalists in the world.’
‘With much love and gratitude,’ Gollust signed her goodbye message to her colleagues.
Chris Cuomo also released a statement in response to Gollust’s resignation with no mention of the sexual assault allegation. ‘It is clear this was never about an undisclosed relationship. As Mr. Cuomo has stated previously, Mr. Zucker and Ms. Gollust were not only entirely aware but fully supportive of what he was doing to help his brother,’ his team told the Wall Street Journal.
‘The still open question is when Warner Media is going to release the results of its investigation and explain its supposed basis for terminating Mr. Cuomo.’
Earlier this month, Zucker, 56, announced he was leaving his $6-million-a-year post at CNN for violating corporate policy by not disclosing the nature of his consensual relationship with Gollust, but he was reportedly given no choice by Kilar, who characterized the change as his decision.
Gollust and Zucker’s relationship was reportedly uncovered during an internal probe into alleged inappropriate relationships after Chris Cuomo was fired from the network in December.
CNN became involved after it was found that anchor Chris Cuomo used his own influence in the media to help his brother, then-Governor Andrew Cuomo, tackle issues including the sexual assault allegations that led to the end of his reign.
It has since been revealed that Chris Cuomo was fired after a secret ‘assault’ allegation made against him by an unnamed woman he ‘badgered for sex’ during his time at ABC News, in 2011.
He also allegedly aired a flattering segment on his show about the company she did PR for at the time during MeToo to try and ‘to buy her silence,’ The New York Times reported Tuesday night.
Before their hurried exits, Gollust and Zucker had worked together for 20 years. The pair claims their relationship turned romantic during the pandemic but others say it far predates COVID, and was common knowledge for as many as 10 years.
Former CNN employees have suggested that Zucker’s relationship with Gollust had been an ‘open secret’ for nearly a decade.
The pair were spotted at a Billy Joel concert last November, where they were called out for defying mask regulations. Don Lemon could also be seen during the concert standing in the row behind.
Sources have said the romantic relationship was so widely known, even the doormen at the Manhattan apartment building where they both lived with their separate families tried to keep Gollust and Zucker’s ex-wife, Caryn, from interacting.
‘Zucker would disappear for hours on end, but Caryn initially had no idea that the woman she was being polite to in the elevator was sleeping with her [then] husband,’ an unnamed source told the New York Post.
They added: ‘Everyone in the building knew about it -even the doormen tried to ensure Caryn wasn’t in the elevator at the same time as Allison.’
After the news broke last week, CNN host Alisyn Camerota defended Zucker and Gollust, saying there was nothing wrong with their relationship because they are both ‘executives’.
Zucker and Gollust lived in the same apartment building on the Upper East Side with their respective families until Jeff sold his in 2020 after he and his ex-wife Caryn Nathanson split.
The building is located at the corner of Madison Avenue in Manhattan, New York. He resided in apartment 3W, while Allison lived in the unit right above him – number 4W – which she still owns.
In her memoir, Going There, Katie Couric later claimed that their ‘cozy arrangement’ was ‘super strange’ and made her ‘really uncomfortable.’ She said in her book: ‘[Allison] and her husband and kids had moved into the apartment right above Jeff and [his wife] Caryn’s – everyone who heard about their cozy arrangement thought it was super strange.
‘By that point, Caryn had become a close friend and it made me really uncomfortable.’
Allison’s apartment has two bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms, while Jeff’s contained five bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms. He sold it for $15.4 million. Both of them also own Hampton houses within 20 minutes from one another.
According to public sales records, Jeff’s home hasn’t been put up for sale since he purchased it in 1999 – however it’s not known whether he or his wife took ownership of it in the divorce. Records also show that Allison still owners her Hampton home.
Source: Daily Mail
