A Week of Surprise Media Firings: Jeff Shell, Tucker Carlson and Don Lemon

Cynthia Littleton

One of the most powerful men in Hollywood is suddenly ousted from his job. He apologizes and expresses “regret.” As time passes, the story becomes clearer. He was allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with one of his employees, and she filed a complaint that he’d sexually harassed her. Years into the #Metoo movement, misconduct in the workplace is still shaking up the entertainment industry.

That happened again over the weekend when Jeff Shell, the CEO of Nbcuniversal, got axed as the result of a recent internal investigation into his behavior. In this week’s cover story, Variety executive editor of film and media Tatiana Siegel offers a pull-back-thecurtain look at what exactly happened after Comcast learned about Shell’s yearslong relationship with a CNBC anchor. But what does this high-profile firing mean for the future of NBCU?

It’s been a big week of breaking news, and Variety’s staff has worked overtime to keep you informed on the latest developments. On the morning of April 24,

Ramin Setoodeh

Fox News dumped its controversial anchor (and internet troll) Tucker Carlson, days after paying a jaw-dropping settlement of $787.5 million to Dominion Voting Systems. Carlson was prominently featured in the defamation suit, which included texts that showed he knew Trump was misleading the American people when he suggested the 2020 election was stolen by Joe Biden, and he’s the subject of another lawsuit from a Fox News producer accusing him of creating a “sexist” workplace.

Simultaneously on Monday, Don Lemon, the long-serving news anchor, announced on Twitter that he’d been fired from CNN after 17 years of service. Lemon’s exit was sudden but perhaps not as shocking. It came after a bombshell investigative story by Siegel in Variety published on April 5, which details years of alleged misogynist and inappropriate behavior. All three of these men changed media, but their legacies will now be defined by how badly they lost our trust — and their own way.