CNN’s morning show cohost Kaitlan Collins is ditching the talent agent she shares with fellow cohost Don Lemon, a move that follows months of on-air drama between the two network anchors.
Collins dropped agent Jay Sures and United Talent Agency for William Morris Endeavor, the New York Post reported. Sources said Sures was not effectively representing Collins in recent months as tensions between the hosts grew on the network’s flagship morning show, originally cast as a “group of friends.”
CNN This Morning, which includes Lemon, Collins, and Poppy Harlow, first hit a rough patch on Dec. 8 when Lemon screamed at Collins for allegedly interrupting him on-air, reportedly leaving the crew “rattled” and Collins “visibly upset.”
“Don screamed at Kaitlan, who was visibly upset and ran out of the studio,” a source told the Post. Lemon reportedly got dinner with Sures the following night.
FLASHBACK: Don Lemon’s Disaster Morning Show Was First Billed as ‘Group of Friends’
In February, Lemon launched into a now-infamous rant about a woman’s “prime” when discussing presidential candidate Nikki Haley.
“A woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s,” Lemon said on Feb. 16. “I’m just saying what the facts are. Google it.”
Lemon was removed from the show for a few days to receive “formal training,” according to internal emails. CEO Chris Licht said the network was taking his comments “very seriously.”
“I sat down with Don and had a frank and meaningful conversation,” Licht said in late February.
The show is struggling against rivals in the same slot. CNN This Morning pulled an average 360,000 viewers in February, compared with an average 1.2 million viewers for Fox News’s Fox & Friends.
SOURCE: The Washington Free Beacon