OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Independent journalist Megyn Kelly slammed her former Fox News colleague Chris Wallace for his recent comments about the network.
During a segment on “The Megyn Kelly Show,” she revealed that former CNN chief Jeff Zucker made her a “huge offer” to jump ship to his network before taking a swipe at Wallace.
Kelly went on to mock CNN Plus, the network’s new streaming service.
“Who is the moron at CNN who actually thought, ‘you know what we need with our ratings in the toilet?’ More of us. We need more CNN,” Kelly began.
“I do love all of the jokes about how while Elon Musk is offering to buy Twitter for tens of billions, there are lots of people out there right now who are willing to buy CNN+ for tens of dollars,” her guest Buck Sexton said.
Kelly then tore into Wallace, who was hired by the network a few months ago.
“He was in last place every week, every year, every month. He was always in last. And they still paid him,” she said.
She then told Sexton about the huge offer CNN made her when Zucker was running the network.
“I considered going to CNN. CNN made me a huge offer. Huge. I said no, Buck, because I knew: who is my fanbase going to be over there? I knew who my fans were and I knew that my Fox viewers were not going to follow me to CNN and that the CNN viewers were going to hate my guts,” Kelly said.
She added that Wallace may be “suffering from that very problem right now.”
WATCH:
For his part, Wallace is furious with the start of the new streaming service for CNN and is threatening to leave.
Jon Nicosia, the former managing editor of Mediaite, broke the story of Wallace being disgruntled on Twitter.
“SOURCE: Chris Wallace is ‘having daily breakdowns’ over the ‘miserable launch’ of @CNNplus. Wants a ‘CNN show or is threatening to walk’ they go on. ‘He is having staffers count how many times a day his promo is playing,’” he said.
SOURCE: Chris Wallace is "having daily breakdowns" over the "miserable launch" of @CNNplus. Wants a "CNN show or is threatening to walk" they go on. "He is having staffers count how many times a day his promo is playing"
— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) April 12, 2022
.@CNNplus struggles to lure viewers in its early days, drawing fewer than 10,000 daily users https://t.co/zdcidVNh8H
— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) April 12, 2022
SOURCE CONT'D: "He's telling anyone that will listen he wants Cuomo's old time slot"
— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) April 13, 2022
It is starting to look like Wallace, who was annoyed with Fox News’ coverage of the 2020 election and, in particular, host Tucker Carlson, made the incorrect decision in leaving.
A recent report also detailed how a large number of funds that were set to go into the streaming service are going to be cut.
The news giant was initially planning to invest around $1 billion in the service over the next four years. Hundreds of millions of dollars are expected to be cut from that original investment total. To date, around $300 million has been spent on the subscription service, which includes a sizable marketing investment. The new company’s leadership team still has yet to decide the ultimate fate of CNN+. CNN’s new boss, Chris Licht, will start May 1.
Fox News Primetime host Tucker Carlson reportedly had more to do with former colleague Chris Wallace’s departure from the network than previously known.
The former “Fox News Sunday” host was interviewed by The New York Times and took a number of swipes at his former place of employment.
Wallace left Fox News to join the new CNN streaming service CNN+ where he will not be covering politics but will be interviewing cultural figures.
“I’m fine with opinion: conservative opinion, liberal opinion,” he said of his decision to leave Fox News. “But when people start to question the truth — Who won the 2020 election? Was Jan. 6 an insurrection? — I found that unsustainable.”
He said that he spent “a lot of 2021 looking to see if there was a different place for me to do my job.”
