CNN has reportedly fired three employees for showing up to work without having been vaccinated against COVID-19 in violation of the network's strict policy, with social media users quickly accusing the company of rank hypocrisy.
The New York Times' media correspondent Michael Grynbaum first reported on the news after obtaining a copy of an internal memo that was sent on Thursday to employees by CNN President Jeff Zucker.
It is unclear where the trio of dismissed staffers worked. CNN is headquartered in Atlanta and has 16 office locations across seven countries.
CNN President Jeff Zucker wrote in a memo to staff that three employees had been fired for showing up to work unvaccinated
CNN currently has an honor system in place, where employees are expected to get vaccinated before coming to the office or working in the field
According to the memo, CNN so far has had an 'honor system' in place when it comes to staffers' vaccination statuses and has not made it mandatory to produce a vaccine card.
'In the past week, we have been made aware of three employees who were coming to the office unvaccinated,' Zucker wrote. 'All three have been terminated. Let me be clear -- we have zero-tolerance policy on this.'
Zucker stressed that all CNN employees, including those working in the office and in the field, must be vaccinated.
In light of the firings, Zucker raised the prospect of requiring staff to show proof of vaccination in the weeks to come.
Critics on Twitter wasted no time pointing out that while CNN was quick to fire workers for being unvaccinated, it has not taken host Chris Cuomo off the air, despite this week's damning report by New York Attorney General Letitia James, which alleged that the presenter advised his brother, New York Gov Andrew Cuomo, on his response to allegations of sexual harassment.
The CNN prime-time personality testified to investigators looking into his older brother’s behavior. His name appears four times in the 165-page report.
Critics quickly accused CNN of hypocrisy, saying that host Chris Cuomo has not been fired, despite allegedly advising his brother, Gov Andrew Cuomo, on his response to sexual harassment claims
Cuomo has not addressed the report accusing his brother of sexually harassing 11 women inside and outside New York government in his nightly show.
Other commenters also brought up the fact that CNN in June rehired Jeffrey Toobin as a legal analyst after he was caught masturbating on a Zoom call with former colleagues at The New Yorker.
Toobin, in an interview with CNN’s Alisyn Camerota, said that he was grateful to CNN for another chance and that he was 'trying to become the kind of person that people can trust again.'
For months, most employers relied on information campaigns, bonuses and other incentives to encourage their workforces to get the COVID-19 shot. Now, a growing number are imposing rules to make it more onerous for employees to refuse, from outright mandates to requiring the unvaccinated to undergo regular testing.
Among employers getting tougher are the federal government, the state governments of California and New York, tech giants Google and Facebook, the Walt Disney Co, and the NFL. Some hospitals, universities, restaurants, bars and other entertainment venues have also started requiring vaccines.
Commenters on Twitter noted that while CNN was quick to dismiss unvaccinated workers, it rehired Jeffrey Toobin after his Zoom masturbation scandal
In July, The Washington Post's publisher wrote a memo to staff notifying them that they will be required to produce proof of vaccination by September 13 as a condition of their further employment.
Also last month, six senior hospital employees at RWJBarnabas Health in New Jersey were fired for being unvaccinated.
Back in late June, more than 150 workers at Houston Methodist were fired or resigned after refusing to comply with the company's policy that requires staff to get COVID-19 shots.
The biggest precedent so far has come from the federal government, the nation's largest employer. President Joe Biden announced last week that all federal employees and contractors must get vaccinated or put up with weekly testing and lose privileges such as official travel.
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