Jeffrey Toobin returns to CNN, eight months after Zoom incident.
The journalist Jeffrey Toobin has resumed his role as chief legal analyst at CNN eight months after he exposed himself on a Zoom call with colleagues at The New Yorker, where he had been a longtime staff writer.
After the October incident, the magazine fired Mr. Toobin and he took an indefinite leave from CNN, where he had been one of the cable channel’s most recognizable commentators. On Thursday, he reappeared on the network — to the surprise of some journalists there — and apologized again for his actions, saying, “It was wrong, it was stupid, and I’m trying to be a better person.”
Mr. Toobin spoke with the anchor Alisyn Camerota, who summed up the events that had prompted his temporary departure from the public eye.
“In October, you were on a Zoom call with your colleagues from The New Yorker magazine,” Ms. Camerota recounted. “Everyone took a break for several minutes, during which time you were caught masturbating on camera. You were subsequently fired from that job after 27 years of working there, and you since then have been on leave from CNN. Do I have all that right?”