Jeffrey Toobin is leaving CNN after two decades on the network — where he survived a masturbation scandal that got him fired from the New Yorker magazine.
The commentator made the abrupt announcement Friday on Twitter as CNN was not expected to renew his contract, according to Deadline.
“Friends, I’ve decided that, after 20 years, I’m leaving @cnn after my vacation,” Toobin tweeted. “Was great to spend my last day on air with pals Wolf [Blitzer], Anderson [Cooper] and Don [Lemon]. Love all my former colleagues.”
The 62-year-old Emmy winner, who was reportedly last on air on Aug. 3, also plugged a forthcoming book he’s writing on the Oklahoma City bombing, due in 2023 from Simon and Schuster.
Toobin’s 27-year career with the New Yorker was marred by an October 2020 Zoom call with colleagues where he was seen pleasuring himself. Conde Nast, the magazine’s parent company, axed Toobin after a three-week investigation, but he returned to the airwaves on CNN in July 2021 after a leave of absence.
Upon his return to CNN, Toobin addressed the controversy and called it “deeply moronic.”
“I didn’t think other people could see me,” the legal analyst told anchor Alisyn Camerota.“I have tried, and I am trying now, to say how sorry I am, sincerely, in all seriousness.
“Above all, I am sorry to my wife and to my family but I am also sorry to the people on the Zoom call, I’m sorry to my former colleagues at the New Yorker, I’m sorry to my current, fortunately, still colleagues at CNN and I’m sorry to the people who read my work and who watched me on CNN and thought I was a better person than this.”
CNN faced some pushback for its decision to hold onto Toobin after his touchy display. Some pundits ripped the liberal commentator over a column shortly after his reinstatement that argued against Attorney General Merrick Garland prosecuting former President Donald Trump.
Former CNN boss Jeff Zucker, who some critics credited with the decision to retain Toobin, left the station earlier this year.