CNN is laying off hundreds of staffers — but reportedly giving Scott Jennings a raise.
The conservative pundit has defended President Donald Trump and his billionaire confidant Elon Musk on numerous occasions since the election, and, while CNN is currently restructuring and laying off some 200 people, Jennings may be getting more money.
The network is now in its final stages of negotiating a new contract and substantial pay bump for Jennings, sources told former CNN reporter Oliver Darcy for a Status News article published Thursday. The deal is ultimately part of a tectonic shift at CNN.
Network CEO Mark Thompson said in January he wants CNN viewers to be able to make up their own mind on issues discussed on air, and pointed to “NewsNight With Abby Phillip” as an example of a program that gives CNN panelists the freedom to wildly disagree.
Jennings has frequently clashed with Phillip on her show in recent months. An ex-staffer for former President George W. Bush, he routinely opposes centrist critiques of Trump and Musk and seemingly always sides with the ideology they espouse.
The commentator slammed women’s basketball star Caitlin Clarke last year for acknowledging her white privilege in the WNBA and claimed she had “been captured by the woke mob.” He recently criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s attire for a White House visit — after Trump did.
Jennings refused to even consider in September that it was racist when Trump claimed Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were “eating the dogs,” and he defended Musk’s Nazi-like salute in January — but refused to imitate it on air to prove it was harmless.
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Jennings has argued SpaceX and Tesla founder Musk has no conflicts of interest despite benefiting from billions of dollars in federal contracts while making decisions for the so-called Department of Government Efficiency — through which Musk is gutting federal agencies that he deems are financially wasteful.
Thompson’s previous comments about the network-wide shake-up suggest Jennings is merely doing his job, however, by serving as a conservative “heel” who provides tantalizing contrast to the discourse on air. Whether that will give CNN a ratings boost remains unclear.
The network ended 2024 with some of the lowest ratings in its history, but managed to come in second place between Fox News and MSNBC for viewers between 25 and 54 years old in the year-end cable viewership averages.