Gayle King’s Exit From ‘CBS Mornings’ Sparks Questions: Did the Backlash Finally Outweigh the $15 Million Paycheck?NH
Source: MEGA
Gayle King has anchored CBS mornings for 14 years.
Gayle King is reportedly losing her 14-year reign lording over CBS Mornings as the lead host when her contract expires in May 2026, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The wrath of the new CBS News boss, Bari Weiss, has seemingly hit ultra-liberal King, 70, as she is trying to steer the division away from its current “woke” status.
A ‘Valued’ Part of CBS
Four sources with knowledge of the situation told Variety the network hopes King will still call CBS home through a deal to produce her own programming, but that her days anchoring the morning show are coming to a close.
The Tiffany network said in a statement, “There have been no discussions with Gayle about her contract that runs through May 2026. She’s a truly valued part of CBS, and we look forward to engaging with her about the future.”
King reportedly makes a whopping $15 million per year with the network for her morning show gig.
Close With Democrats
King’s left-leaning stances are well known. She gushed over Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris in August 2024, when the vice president was running against Republican Donald Trump, who went on to win a second term.
“When I hear people say I will vote for Kamala Harris because she is a Black woman, she is so much more than that. She’s so uniquely qualified to be president of this country,” King raved.
Oprah Winfrey‘s BFF is also close with the Barack and Michelle Obama, going on a yacht vacation in Tahiti with the former first couple in 2017.
Even before Weiss’ arrival earlier this month, King put herself in the crosshairs with her controversial trip aboard Jeff Bezos‘ all-female Blue Origin flight to the edge of Earth’s atmosphere in April, where she was joined by celebrity pals including Katy Perry and Lauren Sánchez Bezos.
King went on to complain loudly about how she felt her accomplishment wasn’t taken seriously enough.
“This was not a ride. What happened to us, this was a bona fide freakin’ flight,” she moaned after getting hit by backlash and bad publicity.
“You never see a man, a male astronaut, who’s going up in space, and they say, ‘Oh, he took a ride,'” King huffed while describing her experience as “peaceful.”
Weiss, 41, was brought in by David Ellison, the new Chairman and CEO of Paramount, to bring the network’s news division back into more moderate territory after the Trump supporter felt it turned too “woke.”
“We believe the majority of the country longs for news that is balanced and fact-based, and we want CBS to be their home,” Ellison stated in her October 6 hiring announcement.
He went on to call The Free Press founder and former New York Times opinion writer a “proven champion of independent, principled journalism.”
Already, there have been major changes under Weiss’s short but decisive reign.
CBS Evening News co-anchor John Dickerson announced on Monday, October 27, that he would be departing the network at the end of the year.
“Let’s be clear — he didn’t quit, he was pushed,” one senior network source spilled to Hollywood insider Rob Shuter, who wrote about it on Substack. “Bari is making it impossible for the old guard to stay. She’s cleaning house — aggressively.”
60 Minutes could see sweeping changes, as Weiss already has her eye on the news magazine show.
She reportedly called a staff meeting on October 14 and asked, “Why does the country think you’re biased?” leaving them in shocked silence.
