Last year, newscaster Chris Wallace left his perch at Fox News Sunday in order to be the headline star of CNN+, a new streaming service launched in March.
Now CNN+ is scheduled to close only 32 days after the launch date, according to a Thursday memo from the network’s incoming chief executive.
And Chris Wallace has become the butt of jokes from his old colleagues at Fox News.
“Apparently Americans were not willing to fork over three whole dollars for a daily dose of Humpty Dumpty or the occasional interview from political swamp creature Chris Wallace,” Fox News host Sean Hannity said on air Thursday, according to The Washington Times.
Sean Hannity uses the nickname “Humpty Dumpty” for CNN’s chief media correspondent Brian Stelter.
CNN+ cost $5.99 per month.
Previously, Chris Wallace had refused to denounce controversial co-stars like Hannity, according to a June 2020 profile by The New York Times.
However, Wallace has apparently changed. He confirmed to the Times last month that he complained to Fox News management about a documentary by co-star Tucker Carlson.
Carlson hit back.
“So we’re mourning, as we told you a moment ago tonight, the involuntary retirement of Mike Wallace’s son,” Carlson said Thursday, referring to 60 Minutes host Mike Wallace. “Boo-hoo! No more lectures on TV!”
Watch the video here —
LMFAO
Tucker Carlson: “So we’re mourning as we told you a moment ago tonight the involuntary retirement of Mike Wallace’s son. Boo Hoo, no more lectures on TV.” pic.twitter.com/5MWweK6jNq
— The Columbia Bugle 🇺🇸 (@ColumbiaBugle) April 22, 2022
Even liberal television hosts have taken aim at the spectacular failure of CNN+.
He finished, “You could tell this was on the horizon now when CNN had a CNN countdown clock to the end of CNN+,” Jimmy Fallon, host of The Tonight Show, remarked last week.
“32 days,” Fallon said, “I’ve had avocados that lasted longer than that.”
Still, the most scathing jokes came from Fox News star Greg Gutfield.
On Thursday’s broadcast of The Five, Gutfield made Chris Wallace into a running gag.
Gutfield started by discussing potential contenders for future Democratic primaries.
“Hillary was supposed to come back. You’ve got Bernie. You’ve got Mitt. The Democratic bench is thinner than Chris Wallace’s demo reel from CNN+,” Gutfield remarked, prompting laughter from his co-hosts. “Thanks. I just needed to get that in there.”
The hosts went on to discuss the Black Lives Matter activists’ empty threats related to the recent election of New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
“B.L.M. has done to Black people what Chris Wallace did to CNN+: enticed them with a promise and then ditched them on the side of the road,” Gutfield continued, looking at the camera. “I’m going to do this every segment. So just get used to it.”
In one zinger, Gutfield said, “A lot of the solutions that are coming from the Left are unreliable, whether it’s solar panels or windmills. I mean look at CNN+. How much money they invested in wind power by hiring Chris Wallace!”
“You have to look at the people who, as the judge said, are free speech absolutists. They’re generally comedians and writers. They’re never politicians, because the politicians always end up defending their side,” he continued. “So look for independent voices with free time. I guess that eliminates Chris Wallace.”
Granted, Gutfield also made some jokes that didn’t land.
Co-host Jeanine Pirro said, “I was sitting next to a guy who was drunk on a plane, and he vomited all over me. Oh, it was awful!”
Gutfield responded, “Was it Chris Wallace?”
Pirro continued, unfazed, “I don’t know, but he vomited in my purse. That really ticked me off!”
“I had nothing to come up with, but that just fit perfectly,” Gutfield concluded.
Watch the video here —
https://twitter.com/KevinTober94/status/1517268630978899974
The Horn editorial team