Gayle King has sparked fury and been branded a hypocrite for accepting a $300,000 freebie from Trump-supporting Jeff Bezos.
CBS News – King’s employer – has strict policies against accepting ‘gifts and freebies’ for ethical reasons.
But that hasn’t stopped King – who’s frequently displayed liberal leanings on air -taking a spot on one of Bezos’ Blue Origin rocket flights into space.
She’ll take to the stars alongside Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sanchez and singer Katy Perry.
The trip has been billed as the first all-female space flight, but angry liberals and media experts say that is a smokescreen designed to try and mask the unethical nature of the extravaganza.
Former CNN media analyst Oliver Darcy wrote in his Status newsletter that King’s freebie ride into space ‘seem(s) like a conflict of interest,’ given CBS News strict policies on its anchors accepting freebies.
Darcy says he’s curious who green-lighted King’s trip into space and why they chose to say yes.
Over on BlueSky, the normally popular King was also attacked by for cozying up to Bezos.
The Amazon billionaire sparked progressive fury by scrapping an endorsement for Kamala Harris at the Washington Post, which he owns.
He also attended Donald Trump‘s inauguration and ordered the Post to become more Trump-friendly.
CBS Mornings’ Gayle King is receiving pushback for taking part in a planned trip to space backed by Jeff Bezos. The anchor is seen with Chappell Roan at the Grammys this month
CBS News – King’s employer – has strict policies against accepting ‘gifts and freebies’, for ethical reasons. Pictured, the interior of a Blue Origin capsule, where a seat will run a normal citizens a sum in the seven figures
‘Disappointing that Gayle King is keeping company Bezos’s fiance[sic]. Poor choice… Gayle, do better,’ wrote one user.
‘I would not touch that dude[‘]s rocket with a barge poll,’ joked another.
‘Gross,’ a more succinct reply read.
Some swore of CBS altogether, at a time where the network is already in a turbulent period, ratings-wise.
Others went as far to wish for members of the motley crew’s death, while others merely questioned why this was even happening.
‘But we still can’t get free school lunches for children,’ one user wrote in reply to the Times piece, which another onlooker painted as the primary ‘problem in the USA in one headline.’
In a more full-throated reply offered on NPR’s version of the report on Bluesky, a user wrote: ‘F*ck Katy Petty and Gayle King for enabling this f*cking fascist piece of sh*t Jeff Bezos.’
One user tagged the Washington Post, a day after Bezos announced sprawling plans to the paper’s already disintegrated Opinion page that were undoubtedly conservative in nature.
Onlookers reacting to the all-women expedition on notoriously liberal Twitter clone BlueSky
Pictured, Blue Origin, Washington Post, and Amazon owner Jeff Bezos, with fiancée Lauren Sanchez. Sanchez will be one of six women taking part in the space mission
Some went as far to wish death upon members of the crew, while others simply branded it as ‘crazy’
The section – which for years was widely considered one of the best of its kind by liberals and Republicans – has been subject to an exodus of talent since Bezos’s decision to do away with the paper’s usual endorsing of a presidential candidate.
The Opinion page, meanwhile, will now focus solely on support for, ‘personal liberties and free markets’, Bezos said in an announcement – one that echoed his explanation to nix the endorsement for what essentially always ended up being for a Democrat.
Within weeks, staffers ranging from longtime stalwarts to rank-in-file reporters aired frustrations with the paper’s leadership – going as far to outright question it in a letter sent to the billionaire on behalf of more than 400 Post staffers last month.
It had demanded a sit-down with the newspaper owner – a not-so-inviting olive branch Bezos seemingly refused.
That same month, the Post’s new publisher and CEO Will Lewis issued a statement to staffers in the DC office about the paper’s dire situation in terms of readership – telling journalists: ‘People are not reading your stuff’.
A quarter-million subscribers canceled subscriptions in response to the lack of a Kamala Harris endorsement, and a number of high profile journalists quit.
Days before Trump’s win, Bezos partied overseas as the crisis surrounding his refusal to use the Post as a political machine unfolded – joined by mission participants Sanchez and Perry.
Perry had been celebrating her 40th birthday in Venice alongside Bezos, Sanchez, and her fiancé Orlando Bloom. Sanchez marked the occasion on Instagram with a story showing the city’s canals, tagging Perry specifically.
A still from Perry’s birthdy party at The Ritz Carlton in Switzerland in October, which was attended by Sanchez and Bezos days before Trump went on to win the election
Sanchez marked the occasion with an Instagram story showing the city’s seminal canals, tagging Perry specifically – to thank her for ‘the Best Weekend’
The Billionaire is seen with Sanchez at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion in December to break bread with the president following his win
Pictured, Mark Zuckerberg, Sanchez, Bezos, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Elon Musk at Trump’s inauguration
More negative reactions to the planned expedition, which will take place sometime in the spring
She thanked her for ‘the Best Weekend’.
A little over a month later, she and Bezos surfaced at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago mansion, for an apparent celebratory dinner with the newly minted president.
The following month, both were present alongside Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk at the president’s inauguration, spurring the now-rife ‘oligarchy’ claims touted first by an outgoing Joe Biden.
Neither Bezos nor Bloom will take part in the upcoming mission. The crew also includes activist Amanda Nguyen, movie producer Kerianne Flynn and former Nasa scientist Aisha Bowe.
King’s CBS News, meanwhile, is in the midst of a ratings crisis brought on by its new ‘Evening News’ format, as well as a loss of talent itself.
‘It’s a disaster,’ a former CBS News exec told DailyMail.com last week of the new dual-anchor set-up headed by Norah O’Donnell replacements Maurice DuBois and John Dickerson.
‘It’s been critically panned, ratings down week by week and from this time last year,’ the source added of the more magazine style format.
‘[Executive Producer] Bill Owens is also overstretched and feeling the pressure with this lawsuit from Donald Trump,’ the insider said, days after the abrupt exit of CBS News and Stations’ President of Editorial and Newsgathering Adrienne Roark.
King’s CBS News, meanwhile, is in the midst of a ratings crisis brought on by its new ‘Evening News’ format, as well as a loss of talent
Her participation in the Blue Origin mission has since raised ethical questions, at a time where ratings are particularly paramount
The longtime 60 Minutes boss was enlisted to help oversee Evening News last summer, and so far its been a disaster.
Double digit dips seen since have put pressure on Wendy McMahon, the CEO said to be next on the chopping block amid the recent parade of exits.
It has also spawned a ratings slump that has raised alarm bells across the industry.
‘I would say it’s a five-alarm fire,’ a veteran television news exec told Status on Friday of the network’s waning ratings, as the station faces legal pressure from Trump via a lawsuit that alleges deceptive editing in regard to Harris’s appearance on 60 Minutes.
This could impact Paramount Global’s planned merger with Skydance Media, as King’s participation in the Blue Origin mission continues to raise ethical questions.
