December 9, 2025
Rumors suggest Gayle King will leave “CBS Mornings” next year to focus solely on “special projects” at the network, following a model similar to Hoda Kotb.
Speculation about Gayle King’s future at CBS grows as new reports surface about her departure from CBS Mornings and the “special projects” she is expected to pursue.
Insiders report that King will leave CBS Mornings when her contract ends in May 2026, but she won’t be leaving CBS entirely, News Nation reports. She is expected to remain with the network to conduct special one-off interviews and specials, following the model of Diane Sawyer and Hoda Kotb.
”She will technically stay with the network,” the source said. “Gayle will do special projects and bigger interviews — like what Diane Sawyer and Hoda Kotb do (for ABC and NBC, respectively).”
News of King’s departure from CBS Mornings came the same day Maurice DuBois announced on Instagram that he will leave CBS Evening News, following John Dickerson’s prior announcement. These exits coincide with Paramount’s ongoing cuts, which have affected dozens of CBS News staffers and hundreds more across the company, after Bari Weiss—a digital entrepreneur who founded the conservative opinion site The Free Press—was named CBS News Editor in Chief in October.
Reports claim that Weiss allegedly wants King to leverage more of her industry connections for the network. Insiders claim Weiss believes King is “wasting her connections” by not sharing inside information about her A-list friends. However, King has long been known for fiercely protecting the relationships she’s built over decades in entertainment.
“Bari is obsessed with pop culture,” a senior staffer told Hollywood insider Rob Shuter. “She thinks Gayle is wasting her connections. Beyoncé, Kris Jenner, Jeff Bezos, Meghan Markle — Gayle is the only journalist invited into these rooms, and she brings none of it back to the audience.”
King is the latest high-profile CBS figure to leave amid the network’s shift in ownership from the Redstones, former controlling shareholders, to the Ellisons, who aim to steer CBS News away from content perceived as overly liberal. Weiss reportedly prioritized King’s role as a key issue in her review of the division.
King faced criticism over her 2024 interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates, who, while promoting his book The Message, clashed with CBS Mornings anchor Tony Dokoupil over Israel. Coates later suggested that Dokoupil should have done what King did—share her planned questions beforehand—a practice not typically followed in newsrooms.
Earlier this year, King also faced scrutiny for participating in a Blue Origin space flight with Lauren Sanchez Bezos, Katy Perry, and others, an event widely seen as a lavish, million-dollar “space walk.”
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