Jeff Zucker tells CNN staff he wishes he fired Chris Cuomo earlier, says he will not pay him $18m severance fee

CNN President Jeff Zucker reportedly told employees during a virtual town hall on Tuesday, December 7 that the network won’t pay severance fee to Chris Cuomo following his firing and that he wishes he had fired him earlier.

‘Yes, in hindsight he may have taken action sooner but [the] result, [Zucker’s] comfortable with,’ a source told Fox News. 

A source told FOX there was ‘universal relief’ among CNN staff when Cuomo who earns $6m a year was finally dismissed.

‘That’s separate from liking Chris or not liking Chris – it’s people feeling that there was a right thing to do, and it was done,’ the insider said.  

During a question-and-answer session on Tuesday, Zucker said he reprimanded Cuomo in May and warned him against advising his brother, Andrew Cuomo who resigned as New York Governor after numerous women alleged he sexually assaulted them.

Zucker reportedly said during the town hall that the network has not decided on a prime-time host replacement.

Before his firing, Cuomo was the network’s most watched anchor.

Zucker’s remarks come days after CNN fired Cuomo, 51, for advising his brother ex-Governor Andrew Cuomo in his sex pest scandal, crafting statements for him and using his journalistic sources to investigate some of his accusers.

‘Chris had gone further than he had told me and told other members of our senior executive team,’ another source told The Wall Street Journal Zucker, 56, had said.

Chris Cuomo is now threatening to sue the network for $18million, which he says remains on his contract, claiming Zucker was well aware of his involvement in defending his brother.