Gayle King is nothing if not resourceful, famously cozying up to garish billionaires and reality TV stars like Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez and Kris Jenner, while trying to act on “CBS Mornings” like she cares about the struggles of regular people. King also has spent decades using her friendship with Oprah Winfrey to arguably stay more relevant in the culture than she may have a right to be.
It’s perhaps not surprising that King is being accused of trying to play both sides of the war between Stephen Colbert and the corporate leaders at CBS, who “froze him out” in the final weeks of his tenure at “The Late Show” and refused to cover his show’s emotional final episode, according to the Daily Beast and the Naughty But Nice Substack.
King got to be one of the celebrity guests at Colbert’s farewell afterparty, following the taping of “The Late Show” finale last week. But insiders told Rob Shuter, the Naughty But Nice podcast author, that the morning show co-host wouldn’t publicly defend her friend against orders from CBS executives for her show to ignore mention of his final show or his departure from the network.
President Trump celebrated the end of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” early Friday, hours after the show’s final episode. (AP) AP
“Gayle wants it both ways,” an insider told Shuter. “She wants Stephen to know she’s his friend, but she also wants management to know she’s staying loyal to the company.”
This news about King comes as she’s been in the headlines this week for her revealing interview on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast. King talked about how it used to “really bother” her when the tabloids reported on rumors that she and Winfrey were “secretly gay” and in a relationship. She also went into detail about how she caught her ex-husband, attorney William Bumpus, having an extramarital affair with her friend in the early 1990s, leading to the end of their marriage. King’s revelation prompted Bumpus to issue a statement Wednesday, apologizing to King and their two children.
Meanwhile, the “blackout” of Colbert came after he mocked Tony Dokoupil, CBS’s beleaguered news anchor, on a comedy segment that sources says angered executives, according to the Daily Beast and Matthew Belloni of Puck. The blackout was “intentional,” Belloni and Status reported.
Earlier this month, Colbert joined the media pile-on, joking about Dokoupil’s failure to secure the visa needed to travel to China and report on the summit between Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Daily Beast reported. This was seen as a high-profile blunder by CBS News. While other reporters, including some from CBS, covered the summit from Beijing, Dokoupil was instead forced to report from Taipei, more than 1,000 miles away.
“All the news teams are on the ground in China to cover this epic and historic summit,” Colbert joked in a monologue on May 14. “All except one.”
CBS News President Tom Cibrowski reportedly was furious that Colbert mocked their news anchor and ordered the blackout on covering his departure from the network, as Belloni reported.
But CBS staffers were “stunned” that King went along with this order and failed to acknowledge her friend on her show last Friday, Shuter reported. The staffers couldn’t believe that she and her show didn’t pay tribute to one of the network’s biggest stars.
“Showing up at the afterparty was her way of saying, ‘I support you personally,’” an insider told Shuter. “But refusing to publicly challenge the network sent a much louder message.”
“People expected at least some recognition,” one source says. “Instead, it felt like corporate punishment — and employees were paying close attention to who was willing to speak up.”
While King posted a warm online tribute to Colbert on Instagram, insiders told Shuter that some staffers saw her gesture as an act of self-serving damage control.
“Gayle knows exactly how to survive in television,” one of the sources told Shuter. “She’s protecting her friendship with Stephen without risking her standing with CBS bosses.”
Inside CBS headquarters, King’s attempted “balancing act” has become difficult to ignore, Shuter said. For some of King’s followers, her double-dealing also is difficult to let go. Below her Instagram post, people called her out.
“I watch you every morning!” one person said. “Couldn’t believe your show didn’t cover his last show! It was everywhere! At least you mentioned it at the end!”
“Read the room Gayle. You are part of the problem,” another person said. To which others responded, “exactly,” “yep!!! Bezos and all.”
Others criticized King for signing a lucrative new contract with CBS even after it canceled Colbert’s show. While the CBS line is that it could no longer justify “The Late Show’s” high operating costs amid declining ratings, Colbert fans believe that CBS — whose news division is now run by what the Daily Beast calls “MAGA-curious” editor in chief Bari Weiss — wanted to punish him for his critical monologues of the president and his administration.
“Yet, u sign a new contract with CBS while they r restricting free speech. How much money do u need????” one person said on her post.
“Yup…time to switch away from CBS,” another person said. “Not interested in a network that lets a national treasure like Colbert go. Will be waiting for his next moves. Sad to see CBS be so diminished and compromised. Not covering his final show or the real story behind his departure is just another sign of the news and the network’s demise….”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.mercurynews.com ’
