Source: Politics<\/p>\n
CNN President Jeff Zucker resigned abruptly on Wednesday, saying he had been engaged in a consensual relationship with a colleague that he didn\u2019t disclose.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was asked about a consensual relationship with my closest colleague, someone I have worked with for more than 20 years,\u201d Zucker wrote in a memo sent to company staff, obtained by POLITICO. \u201cI acknowledged the relationship evolved in recent years. I was required to disclose it when it began but I didn\u2019t. I was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though Zucker did not name the woman with whom he was having an affair, Allison Gollust, chief marketing officer at CNN, put out a separate statement acknowledging her role in it and confirming it was consensual. Gollust was briefly an aide to former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in August 2021 amid a flood of sexual harassment allegations. Months after Cuomo\u2019s resignation, his brother Chris Cuomo was fired from CNN after it emerged he had privately helped the then-governor navigate the fallout of those charges.<\/p>\n
In his memo, Zucker said he was asked about his relationship during an investigation into Chris Cuomo\u2019s conduct. Two sources with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly said that Cuomo\u2019s legal team, which continues to negotiate his exit from the network, raised issues about the relationship between Zucker and Gollust. Cuomo\u2019s legal team asserted that Zucker was hypocritical to suggest Cuomo had a personal conflict of interest when the relationship with Gollust represented a potential conflict as well.<\/p>\n
Zucker started working at CNN in 2013 and before that was president and CEO of NBCUniversal. Gollust said she was remaining at the network.<\/p>\n