Veteran CNN host Poppy Harlow is leaving the struggling cable news network — two months after the cancellation of “CNN This Morning,” where a slew of on-air meltdowns had sparked last year’s ouster of Don Lemon.
CNN boss Mark Thompson told staffers of Harlow’s departure during CNN’s 9 a.m. editorial call Friday — and Harlow confirmed her exit in an email to colleagues.
“When I walked in the door at CNN in 2008, I was 25 years old and had never been on live TV. Green is an understatement!” Harlow wrote in the email, which was first reported by Vanity Fair. “I grew up here: as a journalist and as a person.”
Harlow, 41, thanked Thompson, as well as Amy Entelis — the executive vice president for talent, CNN originals, and creative development — writing that the two have “been wonderful and have given me the space to make this decision.”
She will officially exit CNN next week.
Harlow, who has held various reporting and anchor gigs at CNN, most recently served as a co-host on “CNN This Morning,” the troubled morning show launched in 2022 under former CEO Chris Licht.
She co-hosted the show with Kaitlan Collins and Lemon, who was fired after a series of missteps, including blowing up at Collins off camera and declaring on air that Nikki Haley, then a GOP presidential candidate, was “not in her prime.”
Collins was moved to primetime, while Phil Mattingly, CNN’s chief White House correspondent, was named as Harlow’s new co-host on the ratings-challenged show.
In January, “CNN This Morning” averaged 322,000 total viewers, while MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” drew 988,000 and Fox’s “Fox & Friends” pulled in 1.07 million.
Thompson announced a shakeup in February, which entailed axing the morning show and replacing the hosts with anchor Kasie Hunt, who anchors the early-morning newscast from Washington, DC, from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.
Weeks later, Mattingly was named chief domestic correspondent, but Harlow’s future was uncertain.
Vanity Fair said Harlow was offered a new role at the same time as Mattingly but eventually turned it down.
“Poppy is a unique talent who combines formidable reporting and interviewing prowess with a human touch that audiences have always responded to,” Thompson said in a statement to VF. “She’s been a wonderful colleague at CNN, and we know she will have much success in her future endeavors.”
“Poppy leaves CNN after more than 16 memorable years, thousands of hours in the anchor chair, and hundreds of reports from the field,” Entelis said in a statement.
““Poppy leaves CNN after more than 16 memorable years, thousands of hours in the anchor chair and hundreds of reports from the field. “
She made a mark on numerous major stories including financial crises, the Paris terror attacks and the Boston bombing, but most notably enlightening interviews with the world’s top business leaders, who trusted her because she was tough, fair, and well-prepared. Poppy is a brilliant journalist who sets the standard for reporting with compassion and humanity, and we will miss her.”
