Veteran CNN anchor Poppy Harlow to exit network after morning show disaster

Veteran CNN host Poppy Harlow is leaving the struggling cable news network — two months after the cancellation of “CNN This Morning,” where a slew of on-air meltdowns had sparked last year’s ouster of Don Lemon.

CNN boss Mark Thompson told staffers of Harlow’s departure during CNN’s 9 a.m. editorial call Friday — and Harlow confirmed her exit in an email to colleagues.

“When I walked in the door at CNN in 2008, I was 25 years old and had never been on live TV. Green is an understatement!” Harlow wrote in the email, which was first reported by Vanity Fair.

“I grew up here: as a journalist and as a person.”

Harlow, 41, thanked Thompson, as well as Amy Entelis — the executive vice president for talent, CNN originals, and creative development — writing that the two have “been wonderful and have given me the space to make this decision.”

She will officially exit CNN next week.

Harlow, who has held various reporting and anchor gigs at CNN, most recently served as a co-host on “CNN This Morning,” the ill-fated morning show launched in 2022 under ousted CEO Chris Licht.

She was teamed with Kaitlan Collins and Lemon, who was fired after a series of missteps, including blowing up at Collins off camera and infamously declaring on air that Nikki Haley, then a GOP presidential candidate, was “not in her prime.”

“A woman is considered to be in their prime in [their] the 20s and 30s and maybe 40s,” the 56-year-old Lemon said.

Harlow immediately called out the failed primetime host: “What are you talking about, wait … Prime for what?”

Lemon quickly tried to save himself by claiming he wasn’t stating his personal beliefs — and that his bizarre rant was based on facts that could be gleaned from an internet search.

“That’s not according to me,” he said. “It’s like, prime. If you look it up. If you Google when is a woman in her prime, it’ll say 20s, 30s, and 40s.”

Harlow ended up storming off the set. Lemon was briefly pulled off the air and apologized after receiving backlash.

Lemon was fired last April and soon after Collins was moved to primetime, leaving Harlow to host the morning show with Phil Mattingly, CNN’s chief White House correspondent.

The morning show’s ratings, which were never strong, failed to improve.

In January, “CNN This Morning” averaged 322,000 total viewers, while MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” drew 988,000 and Fox’s “Fox & Friends” pulled in 1.07 million.

Thompson announced a shakeup in February, which entailed axing the morning show and replacing the hosts with anchor Kasie Hunt, who now anchors the early-morning newscast from Washington, DC, from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.

Weeks later, Mattingly was named chief domestic correspondent, but Harlow’s future was uncertain.

Harlow was offered a new role at the same time as Mattingly but eventually turned it down, Vanity Fair reported.

Both Thompson and Entelis raved about Harlow’s professionalism as she heads out the door.

“Poppy is a unique talent who combines formidable reporting and interviewing prowess with a human touch that audiences have always responded to,” Thompson said in a statement to VF. “She’s been a wonderful colleague at CNN, and we know she will have much success in her future endeavors.”

Entelis gushed: “Poppy leaves CNN after more than 16 memorable years, thousands of hours in the anchor chair, and hundreds of reports from the field. She made a mark on numerous major stories including financial crises, the Paris terror attacks and the Boston bombing, but most notably enlightening interviews with the world’s top business leaders, who trusted her because she was tough, fair, and well-prepared. Poppy is a brilliant journalist who sets the standard for reporting with compassion and humanity, and we will miss her.”

Here’s Harlow’s full statement to her colleagues:

When I walked in the door at CNN in 2008, I was 25 years old and had never been on live TV. 

Green is an understatement! I passed those three iconic red letters in the hall on day one and thought how lucky I was to be here. 

The nearly two decades since have been a gift. I have been inspired by you and learned so much from you – who are (and will remain) dear friends. I grew up here: as a journalist and as a person. I was allowed to stumble, to falter, and then to try again with the support and care of this CNN family. This place has shaped me as a leader, taught me resilience, shown me the value of perspective and how to make hard decisions.

It is for those reasons that I take this leap and leave CNN with a full heart and deep gratitude.

Mark, Amy and the CNN management team have been wonderful and have given me the space to make this decision. I am very grateful to them.

CNN gave me the opportunity to travel across this country and around the world — often at the worst of times, but when humanity also shows the best of itself. 

I got to experience what makes this country great. I sat with people in their best moments and in their hardest. They taught me about the human condition and what binds us. Whether it was covering the impact of the financial crisis from Wall Street to Detroit, or spending time with young women in jail in East Tennessee or on Rikers Island, or listening to grieving parents who lost their children to the opioid crisis in Ohio, or the repeated heartbreak of mass shootings, it is the human side of the story that has always moved me, motivated me, and made me appreciate this work so much.

Above all, it is the teams of journalists behind each of these stories – producing at all levels – that make it all possible. 

They are everything.

They are the heart of CNN.

There’s been plenty written about what’s wrong with journalism, and the challenges our industry faces. And it does. But there is also so much right with it. At the heart of everything we do is the pursuit of truth – it is the core of CNN. I remain CNN’s biggest fan and I’ll be watching and cheering you on every day. 

For now, my plan is to walk our children to school and pick them up (hopefully they won’t get sick of me!), and to support the evolution of journalism in every way I can, while preserving the human(ity) in it.

I’m excited for what is ahead – and I will be rooting for CNN always.

With gratitude and love.

Poppy