Gayle King posted a selfie alongside Fox News star Jesse Watters as the two happened to be on the same cross-country flight on Monday — prompting harsh criticism from liberals online.
King, the “CBS Mornings” co-host, was photographed smiling beside Watters on a plane, joking that the two “TV people from competing networks” were seated together on a four-hour flight.
“Speaking for @jessewatters here: A good time was had by all! Hi, Jesse … saving your number!” King wrote on her Instagram account.
That lighthearted tone didn’t land with progressives on social media, who torched King for what they called tone-deaf chumminess.
“Gayle this is NOT IT,” one Bluesky user fumed.
Rapper Talib Kweli added, “Nah Gayle this ain’t it.”
Another account sneered: “All nazi Jesse does is … LIE!”
Dozens of others piled on. “Oprah’s tone-deaf bestie not reading the room,” wrote one commenter.
“EWWW,” said another.
A third declared, “No principles. Not that I ever expected anything else of her.”
Some accused King of trying to impress her new boss, CBS News chief Bari Weiss, who has signaled plans to overhaul the network’s news operation.
“Trying to impress Bari Weiss,” one user quipped on Bluesky.
The liberal outrage comes at a delicate time for King, whose future at the network has been the subject of speculation since Weiss’s arrival earlier this month.
As The Post previously reported, Weiss — the former Free Press founder brought in by Paramount Skydance — has been trying to steady CBS News as staffers fear layoffs and shake-ups that possibly involve King and fellow anchor Norah O’Donnell.
Insiders told The Post that King’s lucrative $13 million-to-$15 million annual contract is set to expire in May and that her standing at the “penny-pinching” network is “murky.”
Some staffers believe Weiss could reshuffle the morning and evening lineups, possibly moving O’Donnell back to “CBS Mornings” — a switch that could leave King out in the cold.
King’s seat-mate moment with Watters also revived memories of their 2019 dust-up, when the Fox News host confused her with “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts.
Watters later apologized on air, holding up a sign that read, “I’m sorry Gayle + Robin.”
Fox News is a subsidiary of Fox Corp — sister company to noti.group’s corporate parent News Corp.
The Post has sought comment from CBS News and Fox News.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
