On Tuesday, CNN’s never-Trumper host Jim Acosta abruptly announced his departure from the network. However, he sounded off with a “grateful” message.
The anti-Trump host was kicked off his daytime slot by CNN CEO Mark Thompson and stuffed into a midnight time slot earlier this month. He feared that keeping Acosta in such a prominent position would hurt the network by continuing to give President Donald Trump a target,
Instead of taking the midnight to 2 a.m. slot, Acosta told viewers that he will instead leave with his head held high, despite being with the network for nearly two decades.
“You may have seen some reports about me and this show, and after giving all of this some careful consideration and weighing some alternative time slots CNN offered me, I’ve decided to move on,” Acosta announced, and then still took another swipe at Trump, despite the fact that ‘s how he landed in this position in the first place.
Today’s show was my last at CNN. My closing message: It’s never a good time to bow down to a tyrant… don’t give in to the lies. Don’t give in to fear. Hold on to the truth… and hope. pic.twitter.com/sGhSWSyPMz
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) January 28, 2025
“People often ask me if the highlight of my career at CNN was at the White House covering Donald Trump. Actually, no,” he said before recalling his coverage of former President Barack Obama visiting Cuba in 2016.
“I took home this lesson: It is never time to bow down to a tyrant,” he declared. “One final message: Don’t give into the lies. Don’t give into the fear. Hold on to the truth, and to hope, even if you have to get out your phone and record that message: I will not give into the lies. I will not give into the fear. Post it on your social media so people can hear from you, too.”
Acosta added, “I’ll have more to say about my plans in the coming days, but until then, I want to thank all of you for tuning in.”
So dramatic, and for what?