Clayโs Idea to Save CNN: Hire Megyn Kelly
2 Feb 2022
CLAY: Buck, you teased that you have a Jeff Zucker story, the former head of CNN. What happened?
BUCK: In my very limited interactions from over there, I was actually always surprised when he knew my name and would come over to talk to me when I was a short-term contributor over at CNN, but he did. And on the terrorism stuff a few times, he came over and he was like, โThat was really good. Youโre really astute. You really know your stuff,โ and I was like, โOf course. Come on. Iโm Buck Sexton! Give me a break. No big deal.โ
CLAY: (laughing)
BUCK: But whatever. But I remember they asked to extend me after the Trump election and I was like, โThis place is completely lost.โ I was just always going in there texting my friends, โThis place has lost its mind, like, they think Trump is worse than Stalin. I mean, theyโre completely crazy, โand I was in the lobby, โcause I was doing an HLN show for a friend of mine who was hosting a show there.
I was a guest on an HLN show after I had said I didnโt want a contract extension from CNN โ and I had no TV job, which is like unheard of in TV, like, โYou donโt want to be on a hundred million home cable network or whatever?โ No, I didnโt, โcause theyโre crazy. And, for whatever reason, Zucker happened to walk past me in the lobby at CNN. (laughing) The last thing I ever got to say to him, he looked me up and down, and he goes, โWhat do you think youโre doing here?โ just like that, and I was likeโฆ (laughing)
CLAY: Like, in a negative way, like, he was, like โ
BUCK: Yeah, of course.
CLAY: โ disgusted that you turned down their offer?
BUCK: Like, I thought he might tell security to escort me out โcause I told him I didnโt want to work there anymore. Heโs like, โWhat are you doing here?โ I was like, doingโฆ I didnโt have like a good quip or comeback, so I was like, uh-oh. Just said, โIโm doing my friendโs show.โ They let me do it. Oh. I was never back on the show, by the way. Never. Youโre officially banned from there, but, by the way, maybe not anymore. Maybe the Zucker reign of terror is over.
CLAY: Maybe not, now, that Jeff Zuckerโs gone.
BUCK: Clay, maybe we would both be welcome to try to win the libs over, to try to bring them to the side of sanity. They could have conservatives on. You canโt โcause of Fox. But I could. I could go over there and tell them to stop being crazy.
CLAY: So that could be one suggestion would be to bring Buck in. But hereโs my thing. If you truly had some testicular fortitude, whoever takes over at CNN, you look at the numbers; theyโre in an incredibly difficult spot, and so my suggestion? Go hire Megyn Kelly. Go hire Megyn Kelly and put her in. I donโt know if sheโd do it, but Megyn Kelly in for the Chris Cuomo chair, because you send an immediate message.
In the middle of Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon, โHey, weโre back to being somewhat sane.โ Megyn Kelly has a big fan base. I think sheโs done well with her podcast. I did it on Monday, by the way. I know that the situation at NBC didnโt go well. But thatโs partly, I think, a function of NBC just being a den of thieves, right โ I mean, just a cesspool.
And so we know how good Megyn Kelly was in the evenings on Fox News, how great her audience was. Sheโs fearless; sheโs smart. And it would send a message that is, โWeโre not going to continue to be a far-left-wing network that no one watches.โ The data on thisโฆ I mean, you just look at the numbers, Buck, I mean, Tucker and Sean have more Democratic viewers than MSNBC or CNN do in the 25 to 54 demo.
I was just reading it in The Wrap today just right before we were about to go on the show. So CNN is not even getting left wing viewers. Iโd go get Megyn Kelly. If I were fearless and I were trying to remake that network, you know you have all sorts of issues now with men, right? You kept Jeffrey Toobin. You now are having to get rid of Zucker and you had to get rid of Cuomo. Bringing in a woman I think is smart, regardless, and you gotta shake things up in a big way.
BUCK: Just so everyone remembers this to give you a sense of how much CNN has changed โ and this was really โ and I remember growing up CNN was around long before Fox so when you thought of cable news, CNN was the 24-hour news channel until Fox came around in 1996, and it took a couple of years for Fox to really grow its massive audience, right? So, in the early nineties, it was CNN, man. That was the only game in town for cable news.
CLAY: Rupert Murdoch was crazy to start a news network.
BUCK: Yeah. But Tucker got his start at CNN on TV, right?
CLAY: Thatโs right.
BUCK: You think back to this, like, this used to be a place where conservatives would go through and conservatives arenโt even allowed in the building anymore, folks. Thatโs how crazy it is.
CLAY: It is pretty wild. You think thatโs a crazy idea, Megyn Kelly to CNN?
BUCK: No, I think there could even be discussions underway, for all I know. Who knows?
CLAY: Yeah, who knows? I mean, I think itโs actually a smart move if CNNโs trying to matter going forward.
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