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Anderson Cooper Ambushed in CNN Lobby: ‘Get the F- Away From Me!’

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


CNN primetime host Anderson Cooper was ambushed and heckled in the lobby of the network’s headquarters in New York City by a man who voiced frustration over a report Cooper did for CBS’s “60 Minutes.”

A video circulating on social media shows a man with a camera following Cooper into the revolving door that leads to CNN’s offices. The man accused Cooper of doing “infomercials” for manufacturers of electric aircraft and demanded to know why he didn’t provide more information about the companies.

“What the f–k are you doing?” Cooper exclaimed to the heckler after he had followed him into the building. “Get the f–k away from me!”

Last year, Cooper profiled the companies Lift Aircraft and Joby Aviation for a segment on CBS’s “60 Minutes” and how they are at the forefront of producing “air taxis.” In the segment, Cooper also took a test flight on one of the “air taxis” and exclaimed, “Wow. I, so just wanna, like, take off with it.”

The man who confronted Cooper in CNN’s lobby had accused him of shilling for the companies making air taxis and wanted to know if he had any investments.

“Did you have investments in Joby, Wisk, or Lyft?” the man asked Cooper, who kept walking and was trying to get away from the heckler.

Cooper eventually snapped at the man after being followed by him for a while.

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Beyond that, CNN is in shambles.

CNN is preparing to part ways with one of the most controversial hosts on the network.

A new report from former Mediaite managing editor Jim Nicosia said that the network has decided he no longer fits with the new direction of the company.

“SCOOP: Another “big name” about to exit @CNN. (Stay tuned),” he said at the start of the week.

“Discovery Executive: ‘He does not have a place in the new CNN. He reminds us of the Zucker period we are looking to move far from. The only reason he is still on air was not to look like we were ‘cleaning house’ for political reasons right after the closing,’” he said. “I agreed not to report the name until the end of the week.”

On Friday he gave the name of the person as Acosta.

“The person this Discovery exec was talking about is Jim Acosta. CNN (like they did when I reported about Stelter being let go) will be to defend the person. That’s what network PR people do. Keep in mind many of the recent people let go had big support within the network but did not fit into the ‘middle ground’ vision CNN is being pushed into.

“Since Acosta was the main Trump lightning rod between the ‘old’ CNN and the new owners future vision he will either go quick, or with a lot of internal pushback. Stay tuned,” he said.

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“One important thing that this executive wanted to stress is they are nowhere near done, and Acosta won’t be the last of the ‘old guard’ to go, but this ‘takes time’ and ‘they’re getting an incredible amount of internal push back from people who want to stay a resistance network,’” he said.

He is correct. The network said his story about Stelter being fired was incorrect weeks before they announced that he and the company had parted ways.

The network has seen a big change in recent times.

According to Mediate, Jim Sciutto has been given time to deal with the aftermath of a “serious fall” he suffered in Amsterdam earlier this year as he was returning from war-torn Ukraine. Sciutto, who is CNN’s chief national security correspondent, came back through the Netherlands with his producer even though the network had offered him a direct flight home out of Poland.

Per the Daily Beast’s Confider column: [Sciutto] was the subject of a CNN internal investigation earlier this year, Confider has learned after he had a serious fall in Amsterdam en route home from a reporting trip to Ukraine. Despite colleagues taking direct flights home from Poland, Sciutto and his producer made a stopover in the Dutch capital where the accident occurred. We hear Sciutto has since recovered from the incident but has been directed by CNN to address a “personal situation.” Sciutto and CNN did not respond to requests for comment.

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The UK’s Daily Mail reported that Scuitto was placed on “personal leave.” It’s not clear what the host is dealing with, however, at this point. He co-anchors “CNN Newsroom” with Poppy Harlow. He has been with CNN since 2013. Prior to that, he worked for ABC News and also served as chief of staff and senior advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to China, Gary Locke.

 

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