Gayle King Shuts Down Rumors About Being Kicked Off CBS
Gayle King Shuts Down Rumors About Being Kicked Off “CBS Mornings”
Source: Roy Rochlin / Getty
Gayle King is fine at CBS. At least for now. The CBS This Morning anchor’s multimillion-dollar contract is not up until May of 2026, but some people have suggested that she won’t be returning past that.
Variety cites four sources that say CBS won’t renew the contract for the 70-year-old anchor. CBS/Paramount is now owned by Skydance, which finalized its billion-dollar sale in August. Skydance hired Bari Weiss, who owned The Free Press, a conservative media platform, to head CBS News, which has already led to sweeping changes. Weiss sold the outlet to Paramount Skydance for $150M which helped her secure the deal atop CBS’ news division.
Stephen Colbert’s late-night show has already been cancelled and will end in May. King’s role as one of the anchors on CBS Mornings, which includes Nate Burleson, Tony Dokoupil, and a diverse group of correspondents, including Vladimir Gauthier, falls under the news division, which is said to be “too liberal” for Weiss and the network’s new ownership.
Officially, CBS says King will remain on CBS for the foreseeable future.
“There have been no discussions with Gayle about her contract that runs through May 2026,” a spokesperson for the network told Variety. “She’s a truly valued part of CBS and we look forward to engaging with her about the future.”
TMZ cameras caught up with King outside CBS Studios in New York. When asked about her contract, King said, “All I’ve been told from people inside this building is that want me here, they like the job I’m doing. I like the job and the people that I work with…I don’t know what to tell you. What I’m hearing in the building is not what I’m reading in the press. What I’m not going to do is negotiate it in the media. Not doing that.”
When pressed further about what the show might look like in May, King said “I don’t know. All I know is that I’m here and glad to be here.”
John Dickerson, one of the two current CBS Evening News anchors, is leaving the show at the end of the year. The network axed its Saturday news co-anchors Michelle Miller and Dana Jacobson. The show’s executive producer, Brian Applegate, is also out, along with correspondents Lisa Ling and Nikki Battiste. Bill Owens, the longtime executive producer of 60 Minutes resigned in April, citing his concerns that the renowned newsmagazine show would no longer be independent of the executive suite.
It’s an increasingly difficult landscape for journalists of color overall in mainstream media at CBS and elsewhere. A CBS producer who was let go in post-Skydance layoffs alleged that on his team, only people of color were let go.
King has been with CBS since 2011 and morning show audiences have proven to be loyal to the hosts they embrace. However, King’s vulnerability as the show’s most visible anchor is that CBS’s morning show has been in third place behind Good Morning America and The Today Show for years. CBS is a million viewers behind, pulling in 1.8 million average daily viewers as opposed to the more than 2 million the other shows have.
If any changes are made, King could also be moved to other programming on the network, whether to host specials or as a correspondent. King will turn 71 in 2026, which could also be a factor in renegotiating a new deal.
Gayle King Shuts Down Rumors About Being Kicked Off “CBS Mornings” was originally published on cassiuslife.com
