CNN Boss Chris Licht's Lies About His 50lb Weight Loss Are Telling

By Dustin Rowles | TV | June 6, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | June 6, 2023 |

It’s remarkable how fascinated many of us are with the debacle over at CNN under the leadership of Chris Licht, the Tom Wambsgans of the news media (he is an empty suit who has kissed a lot of ass to rise through the ranks). CNN’s ratings are in the toilet. The town hall with Donald Trump was a disaster (although, it did get higher ratings than the town hall Hannity had with Trump on Fox News last week). Licht’s efforts to pivot to the center-right have backfired, David Leavy has been brought in to help fix the mess at CNN, and Jake Tapper, Wolf Blitzer, and Erin Burnett have reportedly lost confidence in Licht.

A profile from The Atlantic last Friday put blood in the water. CNN’s former boss Jeff Zucker has piled on. Brian Stelter — fired by Licht early on in his tenure — writes that Licht “is done.” According to CNN employees, and even a CNN senior reporter, Oliver Darcy, blasted Licht in his newsletter, writing that the Atlantic profile was “blistering” and “embarrassing,” and “called into serious question Licht’s judgment, his ability to lead the network’s staff, and his overall professional capabilities as CNN’s top executive.”

I don’t know how much longer Licht can hold on, but I do find one tidbit from The Atlantic article telling. In it, the only person who came to Licht’s defense was not the man who hired him, David Zaslav. It was Licht’s trainer, who comes out of the profile as the most decent person in it. The profile describes Joe Mayonset as Licht’s “coach,” “therapist,” and “one-man focus group.” In the last couple of years, Licht has lost 50 pounds, which he attributes to skipping breakfast and working out every morning. “I’m a machine,” Licht says, while adding, “Zucker couldn’t do this shit.”

It’s a spectacularly douchey thing to say, but the thing is, it’s not clear how much of that weight loss can be attributed to being a “machine,” because what he didn’t reveal is that he may have used the weight loss drug for diabetics, Ozempic, according to multiple sources who spoke to The Daily Mail.

“I heard about Ozempic from Chris,” one close friend of Licht’s said. “When he was at Colbert, he explained that he was a huge fan of it and he’d been using it to get his weight under control. This was back in 2021.”

There’s nothing specifically wrong with using Ozempic (although those with diabetes should have priority if there are shortages). But a guy who uses a weight-loss drug and attributes his weight loss to his strict diet and exercise regimen is absolutely the kind of guy who takes credit for the excellent work of his staff but blames them when things go wrong. That’s a bad boss. That Stephen Colbert is such a huge fan of Licht actually makes me think a tiny bit less of the late-night host.