He adds that he feels firing him was "excessive punishment." says he was told that The New Yorker reviewed his whole career and didn't find any other instances of misconduct. Toobin appeared Thursday on CNN for the first time in eight months to discuss the incident that took place last October, in which he exposed himself during a Zoom.
See clips of Toobin’s Thursday appearance on CNN below. Legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin is coming clean about the masturbation scandal that led him to be fired by The New Yorker and suspended from CNN last fall. I thought no one on the Zoom call could see me. I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers,” Toobin said at the time in a statement to VICE. “I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera. Toobin was then seen lowering his camera and touching his penis as he masturbated, VICE reported. During the call, there was a brief “strategy session” and it appeared that Toobin was on another video call, according to individuals on the call who spoke with VICE. I didn’t think other people could see me,” he said, adding, “That’s not a defense.”Īs first reported by VICE last October, Toobin was on a call with staff from the New Yorker and WNYC for an election simulation when the whole fiasco happened. I think one point - I wouldn’t exactly say ‘in my defense,’ because nothing is really in my defense - I didn’t think I was on the call. “Obviously, I wasn’t thinking very well or very much and it was something that was inexplicable to me. He was “on leave,” he confirmed during his on-air reemergence Thursday, adding that his behavior on that Zoom call last fall was “deeply moronic and indefensible.”Īnchor Alisyn Camerota - echoing the thoughts of just about everyone who’s read the story of what happened that fateful day in October - said asked him, “What the hell were you thinking?” Note, too, that Camerota, a Fox News alum, has been outspoken against sexual harassment in the media industry for years. Since his November ouster from the New Yorker, which came after 27 years of employment, the media world has been wondering about Toobin’s fate as CNN’s chief legal analyst, but the cable network has stayed mum about his future. However, BuzzFeed News insisted such an incident likely occurs frequently in the era of the coronavirus. He said he was “incredibly grateful to CNN for taking back.” Vice later reported, citing two sources, that Toobin was seen masturbating on the call.
Jeffrey Toobin made his CNN return Thursday, seven months after being fired from the New Yorker for exposing himself on a Zoom call with his colleagues.