Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav reportedly sent fired CNN anchor Don Lemon a $1,600 bottle of wine as a peace offering while they both dined at a steakhouse in Manhattan.
Lemon, who was dumped by CNN last year after a string of high-profile on-air and behind-the-scenes incidents that alienated viewers and colleagues, received a bottle of 2017 Opus One Cabernet blend as he ate with husband Tim Malone at Porter House near Columbus Circle last month, according to Puck News.
Zaslav, CEO of CNN’s corporate parent, was at the same restaurant on a double date with his wife, Pam Zaslav, and billionaire private equity mogul David Rubenstein and his spouse, Caryn Zucker, Puck News reported.
Caryn Zucker is the ex-wife of Jeff Zucker, the former CNN president who resigned after it was revealed that he had been carrying on a long-term relationship with a top subordinate.
Lemon, who reportedly received $24.5 million in a separation agreement with CNN, was reportedly touched by Zaslav’s gesture — so much so that he stood up and approached their table for a chat, according to Puck News.
The two men had previously bumped into each other at Barney Greengrass, a famous Upper West Side Jewish deli. Zaslav and Lemon exchanged “bland pleasantries,” Puck News reported.
Last April, Lemon’s tenure at CNN ended after 17 years at the network during which he reportedly alienated colleagues and management with his antics and comments.
In December 2022, Lemon, a former prime time host who was demoted to co-anchor the weekday morning show with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins, was rebuked by his co-hosts for saying that women’s soccer is less interesting than men’s soccer.
In February of last year, The Post reported that Lemon flew into a rage and screamed at Collins off the air and in front of colleague for interrupting him on the air.
Collins was so shaken by the incident that she ran out of the studio, sources told The Post.
Days after the incident, Lemon caused another stir when he said on the air that Nikki Haley, the 51-year-old GOP presidential candidate, was “not in her prime.” The ensuing backlash prompted the network to suspend Lemon.
Lemon also reportedly ignored instructions from producers during a tense April interview with GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who said that African Americans won equal rights in the US with help from the National Rifle Association.
Days after the interview, Lemon was fired.
He has since resurfaced with his own show, which was originally slated to be streamed exclusively on X.
But Lemon’s exorbitant demands for a Tesla Cybertruck, millions of dollars upfront as well as the power to have final approval over X’s news content alienated executives at the social media company, who terminated talks after a contentious debut interview with X owner Elon Musk.
Zaslav could certainly afford to pick up the tab for expensive wine. Last year, he was paid $49.7 million as part of his compensation package from Warner Bros. Discovery — this despite the fact that the company’s stock hit an all-time low earlier this week.
The selloff of WBD stock was prompted by reports that NBCUniversal was looking to make an aggressive bid to win the broadcast rights for National Basketball Association games — a valuable television property that has had a home at WBD-owned Turner Sports for decades.
WBD stock bounced back on Thursday, surging by more than 3% as of 2 p.m. Eastern time. It was selling at around $7.90 a share.
The stock has lost around 70% of its value since it began trading on Wall Street in April 2022 upon the completion of the merger between WarnerMedia, which was spun off by AT&T, and Discovery.
Zaslav, who has a mandate to cut costs at debt-ridden WBD, has previously said that his company doesn’t “have to have the NBA,” but Wall Street observers begged to differ.
NBCUniversal is prepared to offer an average of $2.5 billion a year for the rights to air NBA games, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Losing the NBA could make it much more difficult for WBD to charge cable and streaming distributors the carriage fees that it wants.
MONTREAL — Mikael Granlund scored the overtime winner, and Finland beat Sweden 4-3 Saturday in an instant classic, back-and-forth game between the bitter rivals at the 4 Nations Face-Off.
Granlund scored 1:49 into 3-on-3 OT, sending fans in Finland’s blue and white at Bell Centre to the exits cheering and chanting, “Suomi!”
“It’s always great to beat Sweden,” Granlund said in his postgame media availability.
Anton Lundell and Mikko Rantanen also scored for Finland, and Kevin Lankinen made 21 saves in his debut at the NHL-run international tournament, including a pad stop on Mika Zibanejad seconds into overtime. Coach Antti Pennanen switched from Juuse Saros to Lankinen after his team lost 6-1 to the United States on Thursday night.
“I don’t think we needed to do much, we knew that there was a lot of good things we did in the game against USA,” Finland captain Aleksander Barkov said in his postgame interview on SportsNet. “Obviously, the result, 6-1, was not great, it did not look good. But I thought we did a lot of good things. And same thing today.”
Mikael Granlund after putting Finland on his back! 🇫🇮
Knocking off Sweden puts the Finns right back in it with one game for them left in round-robin play. The top two teams among the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland meet in the championship game next week in Boston.
Despite goals from Zibanejad and Rasmus Dahlin, the Swedes are in trouble and now might need some help to make the final. Filip Gustavsson was pulled after allowing two goals on four shots in the first period, and Linus Ullmark allowed two on 17 the rest of the way.
Finland also has a potential injury situation to monitor after Barkov came up limping from blocking a shot late in the second. The reigning Stanley Cup champion from the Florida Panthers continued playing through it.
“We got a little better, and played for a full 60-something minutes,” Barkov said. “We knew, playing against Sweden, even if it’s 4 a.m., it doesn’t matter. Everyone is going to be fired up. We came out hard, and we played really well.”
The U.S. faces Canada on Saturday night in the most anticipated game in Montreal, but Sweden and Finland put on quite the show in the matinee. Facing off 19 years after Sweden defeated Finland in the 2006 Olympic gold medal game in Turin, this time the Finns were on the winning end of an entertaining game featuring a blend of speed, skill and physicality — and some pushing and shoving after the whistles, which was expected of players from countries that do not like each other.
The tournament shifts to Boston, where Finland faces Canada on Monday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET and Sweden plays the United States at 8 p.m.
Kristen Shilton is a national NHL reporter for ESPN.
MONTREAL — The storied USA-Canada hockey rivalry will be reintroduced — and reignited — when the two countries take center stage at the 4 Nations Face-Off on Saturday night.
It can’t be defined as an ordinary game — not for players who have waited a lifetime to be part of best-on-best hockey against their nation’s greatest on-ice foe.
“This one’s a big one, the biggest of my career,” USA forward Dylan Larkin said. “Just watching [international games] as a kid with my family, it’s like a holiday, it’s like the Super Bowl for us. To be able to be a part of it, on a Saturday night in Montreal, it’s perfect. It’s just great.”
The opportunity for NHL skaters to be involved in events such as the Olympics came to a halt after the 2014 Sochi Games and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Many of the league’s current top stars were left wondering if they’d ever go toe-to-toe against the world’s greatest players in tournaments like the ones they were raised on.
It’s a reality now.
“I think it’s going be the biggest game that I’ve ever played in my career,” USA forward Brady Tkachuk said. “I’m really looking forward to that. There’s a big buildup to it. USA vs. Canada is bigger than just the guys on the ice. There’s so many people past, present and down the road [that it affects]. We’ve been talking about this game especially. It’s going to be a long couple days [waiting] until it happens, but it’ll be exciting.”
Canada and the USA will enter Saturday night with one tournament win apiece — the U.S. pounded Finland 6-1 on Thursday, and Canada outlasted a stubborn Swedish team 4-3 in overtime Wednesday.
Those appetizers will be nothing like the upcoming main event, though. There’s unmatched history between these two countries that has found its way into the 4 Nations discourse already.
The most memorable chapter — at least for most skaters now — was the 2010 Olympics. Canada and the U.S. faced off in the gold medal game, and Canada let slip a 2-1 lead with less than a minute to play. In overtime, it was Sidney Crosby — captain of Canada’s 4 Nations team — who scored the winner to down the Americans and send Canada home with gold.
Canadian forward Connor McDavid claims that as his favorite moment produced by these rival countries. He watched it happen then as a junior hockey player; now, for the first time at this level, he’ll be counted on to help lead his nation to victory.
“It’s what you dream of,” McDavid said. “It’s big; it’s exciting. It’s playing the Americans in Montreal. That’s a big game.”
Defenseman Drew Doughty was part of Canada’s 2010 and 2014 gold medal Olympic teams. That has done nothing to dampen his passion for what’s coming Saturday.
“The wait has just amplified [the rivalry]. It’s made you more hungry. And I know that the Americans are feeling the same way about playing us. It’s going to be a hard-fought game. I suggest everyone watches that one.”
Canada defenseman Drew Doughty
“When you play the Americans, you want to beat them so bad,” Doughty said. “And I still have this feeling at 35 years old, how bad [I] want to beat the Americans. They’re a really good hockey team. … It’s going to be a tough battle. But this is probably the most exciting matchup of the tournament.”
The world junior championships have provided a dose of elite-level best-on-best hockey in the years since that latest World Cup. But the men’s rivalry was still simmering beneath the surface just waiting to be released again with this generation of talent.
“The wait has just amplified [the rivalry],” Doughty said. “It has made you more hungry. And I know that the Americans are feeling the same way about playing us. It’s going to be a hard-fought game. I suggest everyone watches that one.”
“There’s no bigger rivalry than Canada-USA in hockey,” Canada’s Brad Marchand added. “They’re the games that everybody dreams about playing growing up. They’re memories that will last a lifetime. We’re all really looking forward to it. Can’t come quick enough.”
Canada will have a distinct hometown advantage, a reaction the U.S. anticipated for every game it will play this tournament.
Still, there was some surprise that fans at Bell Centre booed the United States anthem when it was performed ahead of Thursday’s game. That has become more of a trend around the league since President Donald Trump threatened — and subsequently enforced — significant tariffs on Canadian imports.
“I’m not going to get into that,” Crosby said. “We respect the anthems; I’ll leave it at that.”
“I just kind of stay out of it,” Doughty said. “I know what’s going on, and I understand the Canadians’ frustration, but I think we should respect the anthems. I don’t think anyone should be booing.”
Some fans might save that reaction for what happens during the game. Coaches, like players, are expecting to see the best out of their lineups for what is projected to be a tournament highlight. And no amount of practice time or conversation can prepare players for a potentially emotional night.
“There’s a lot of pride,” USA coach Mike Sullivan said. “There’s a lot of familiarity on both sides. These guys play with and against each other in the NHL all the time. An event like this where it’s best-on-best, I think it brings out the competitive spirit of both sides. The biggest difference is when you have the privilege to play in an event like this and represent your country, it has become something that’s bigger than any individual. There’s a responsibility to bring your best when you have the privilege to participate in these types of events.
“I would envision it being a real competitive hockey game.”
That might be an understatement.
“Saturday night in Canada, against Canada — I don’t think there’s much better than this for a hockey player of this level,” Jake Guentzel said. “The crowd’s going to be intense, it’s going to be hostile, it’s going to be all of the above, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”