CNN heavyweights Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust and Don Lemon have been spotted dining on the Amalfi coast – amid rumors they could be plotting a bid for the embattled network.
They were pictured enjoying a sunset dinner in a photograph shared by Lemon on social media, along with fellow vacationer, super-agent Jay Sures.
The group met on the tiny island enclave of Ponza, close to the western coast of Italy.
Lemon, 57, who was axed from CNN in April, has posted photographs of himself with husband Tim Malone celebrating the 4th of July on the Amalfi Coast, including videos of the duo jumping from boats into bright blue waters.
In another Instagram post of the same trip, photographs of the wider group dining are included for a millisecond as part of a rapid-fire reel which comes with the caption: ‘Making memories with great friends’.
CNN heavyweights Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust and Don Lemon have been spotted dining on the Amalfi coast – amid rumors they could be plotting a bid for the embattled network
Lemon’s holiday snaps also come amid rumors the network’s boss David Zaslay is looking to sell it, with Zucker emerging as a frontrunner to snap it up
David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, could look to sell CNN after a turbulent year, insiders claimed. He is pictured June 12, 2023
Along with Lemon, who was booted off CNN by former CEO Chris Licht as part of the network’s revamp, the group includes Licht’s predecessor, Zucker.
Lemon’s holiday snaps also come amid rumors the network’s boss David Zaslay is looking to sell it, with Zucker emerging as a frontrunner to snap it up.
Zucker has close business ties Abu Dhabi-based International Media Investments, and experts have warned that much of the money he would invest in CNN would come from the United Arab Emirates.
Just over a year ago, Zucker was forced to resign 15 years into his CNN tenure after the company found he was having a relationship with fellow staffer Gollust.
Gollust was also part of the Amalfi trip, along with United Talent Agency co-chairman Jay Sures.
Sures, 52, boasts a client roster including the likes of ultra-liberal producer Judd Apatow and CNN’s Jim Acosta.
Both Zucker, 58, and Gollust, 51, are divorced. Zucker and his wife Caryn split in 2018 and Gollust is understood to have separated from her husband Billy around the same time, if not earlier.
They lived in the same apartment building with their respective families for years and the romance was well-known among CNN’s staff, according to multiple people.
Lemon, 57, who was axed from CNN in April, has posted photographs of himself with husband Tim Malone celebrating the 4th of July on the Amalfi Coast
Lemon was dismissed from the network after 17 years, and he posted a blistering statement on Twitter expressing his shock in the aftermath
Jeff Zucker, Tom Brokaw and Allison Gollust pictured at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press in 2016
Lemon was dismissed from the network after 17 years, and he posted a blistering statement on Twitter expressing his shock in the aftermath.
‘I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned,’ he said.
Only hours earlier, Lemon – who reportedly earned $4 million a year – had happily tweeted a clip from that day’s edition of CNN This Morning, which he co-hosted.
No one ‘in management’ had the ‘decency’ to tell him directly, he continued. ‘It is clear that there are some larger issues at play.’
CNN hit back, slamming Lemon’s claims as ‘inaccurate’ and saying he had been ‘offered an opportunity to meet with management’.
Early reports suggested a particularly combative interview with Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, in which Lemon became visibly frustrated with his guest, was the reason for his axing.
Ramaswamy had recently spoken at the annual National Rifle Association convention, where he made the controversial observation that Southern Democrats — in the aftermath of the Civil War — restricted the gun rights of newly freed black people and sought to keep them in bondage.
Lemon’s CNN co-host Poppy Harlow initially questioned Ramaswamy. It was palpably tense on set, but civil. Only when Lemon chimed in did it turn ugly.
‘When you are in black skin and you live in this country, then you can disagree with me,’ Lemon snapped at Ramaswany, an Indian-American man, before repeatedly accusing him of lying and failing to provide evidence.
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