CNN’s $300 million streaming service CNN+ has shut down just one month after it launched. The shut down comes after the streaming service failed to sign up more than 150,000 subscribers in 30 days.
Jemele Hill is among 300 CNN+ employees who are now out of work. The troubled sports journalist has a history of job suspensions and terminations due to her unsolicited opinions on social media.
Cari Champion, left, and Jemele, center, were hired by CNN+ in February to host a show about sports, entertainment, politics, etc.
Their show didn’t even get a chance to air. CNN+ never put their show on the programming schedule.
A disappointed Jemele took to Twitter.com on Thursday to acknowledge people laughing at her expense:
“Some of y’all are going to try to get jokes off at my expense but I’m going to be fine — it’s called a contract, learn about it. But there are people who are part of our show staff who do not have the same protection. Good people will be out of work. But go off tho.”
Some of y’all are going to try to get jokes off at my expense but I’m going to be fine — it’s called a contract, learn about it. But there are people who are part of our show staff who do not have the same protection. Good people will be out of work. But go off tho. https://t.co/LXWNwVa9YE
— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) April 21, 2022
CNN+ staffers were left furious and anxious after leaving their stable jobs to work for the streamer.
“Everyone is aghast and furious.” a source told The New York Post.
“Many people left their stable jobs to go to CNN+ and then they pull it right after launch?” the source said.
“The big people will likely be saved, but what about everybody else, the people who do the real work?”
Veteran news journalist Sara Sidner moved from Los Angeles to NY for the opportunity to host her own show on CNN+.
“This is mind-blowing, to be perfectly honest,” she tweeted on Thursday about CNN+’s demise.
She later tweeted: “It’s over. It’s been the shortest most amazing ride #CNNPlus team.”
CNN’s critics – including Donald Trump and Fox News – celebrated the failed venture.
The former president called CNN+ “an empty desert.”
CNN has promised to place some of the unemployed in other positions within the organization. But Jemele probably won’t be among them.
