16 February 2022: CNN Chief Marketing Officer and Cuomo Influence Network Member Allison Gollust Resigns

Allison Gollust, CNN exec in affair with Zucker, resigns after probe finds ‘issues associated’ with Cuomo brothers

CNN's Chief Marketing Officer Allison Gollust has been conspicuous by her continued presence at the flailing news network. That's because as an executive, she would be expected to adhere to the same ethical requirements as former CNN CEO Jeff Zucker, who resigned after WarnerMedia executives learned he had concealed his romantic relationship with Gollust from them. Since she was just as much a CNN executive, her remaining on the job at CNN stood out has exceptionally unusual.

This report finds her departure was contigent on the findings of an internal probe by WarnerMedia into the conduct of CNN's executives. When that investigation was complete, she chose to resign. The following excerpt provides a high-level summary of what led to her resignation in disgrace:

Allison Gollust, the CNN executive in a relationship with former network head Jeff Zucker, has resigned after an investigation found the duo – along with Chris Cuomo – violated company policies, according to a memo from the company’s CEO.

The probe, performed by a third-party law firm, examined “issues associated with Chris Cuomo and former Governor Andrew Cuomo,” according to the letter sent Tuesday from Jason Kilar, the boss of CNN’s parent company WarnerMedia.

“Based on interviews of more than 40 individuals and a review of over 100,000 texts and emails, the investigation found violations of Company policies, including CNN’s News Standards and Practices, by Jeff Zucker, Allison Gollust, and Chris Cuomo,” Kilar wrote in the memo.

Gollust previously worked for the resigned-in-disgrace former governor of New York, Andrew M. Cuomo, as his press secretary. As such, she is the latest member of Cuomo's influence network to be ousted from the media or advocacy group to which they were embedded, in part because they put Andrew M. Cuomo's political interests ahead of those of their employers. At CNN, Gollust participated in advising Andrew M. Cuomo how to present himself in the daily coronavirus pandemic briefings that led to his surge in popularity in early 2020.