Kara Swisher says she will leave CNN as soon as legally possible, after the network’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, was officially approved to merge with Paramount.
Paramount reached a deal Monday with a coalition of blue states led by California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta, resolving the antitrust lawsuit blocking the controversial acquisition.
“In any case, no, my contract, just literally reading my contract today,” Swisher said on her podcast, Pivot. “As you might imagine, when this news struck, I threatened to leave, and I have asked my agent to get me out of my contract. It ends Dec. 31.”
MAGA-friendly Paramount CEO David Ellison and his billionaire father, Larry Ellison, have faced criticism for overhauling CBS News, including the appointment of Bari Weiss to lead the newsroom.
Swisher says she wrestled with whether she could work with Paramount. Ultimately, she decided not to, saying, “F--k these guys. I don’t want to work for them. I just don’t.”
Swisher has been a contributor at CNN for three years and launched her own original series on the network this year, Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever.
Swisher said that CNN does not want her to leave.
“They’ve been trying to keep me,” she said. “Very nicely, been trying to keep me, and I have a lot of regard for the executives there now.”
She added, “I have other things that make more money, that matter more, that have a bigger audience.”
Aside from co-hosting Pivot, Swisher is still an editor-at-large at New York Magazine. The 63-year-old has an impressive resumé, having been regularly published by The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times.
Page Six reports that Weiss and Swisher have never met in person, but they both worked for The New York Times opinion section, overlapping for nearly two years. Swisher also once dated Weiss’ wife, The Free Press co-founder Nellie Bowles, according to the site.
“I just don’t want to work [with Paramount],” Swisher said. “They don’t want me. I don’t want them, and I have been very explicit. I think they are terrible media owners. I’d rather work for Rupert Murdoch.”
Since Weiss was chosen to lead CBS News, high-profile journalists like Anderson Cooper, Scott Pelley, Sharyn Alfonsi and Cecilia Vega have been fired or resigned from the network’s flagship program, 60 Minutes.
Trump has celebrated the Paramount takeover, repeatedly attacking CNN’s coverage of his administration as “fake news.” Meanwhile, top stars at CNN are reportedly panicking about their future at the network—and the future of the network itself.
