Norah O'Donnell is out at "CBS This Morning," and, according to one report, Gayle King is at the center of her ousting. CBS News president Susan Zirinsky says otherwise, though.
Page Six reported on Thursday that the new anchor lineup for CBS's struggling morning show doesn't include Norah, and her dismissal from the lineup is part of Gayle's new contract negotiations.
Susan, however, denied that Gayle had anything to do with Norah leaving, claiming, "This headline is offensive and 100 percent false."
A source echoed that claim, telling Page Six, "There's no bad blood between Norah and Gayle, in fact they are very close. Norah is being honored at the Matrix Awards in Manhattan on Monday and Gayle is introducing her."
Earlier in the day, Page Six painted a different picture of the story, reporting that according to sources, Gayle wanted Norah to be moved to a different show.
The new morning team will now apparently feature Gayle, "CBS This Morning Saturday" co-anchor Anthony Mason and CBS News correspondent Tony Dokoupil.
Norah will stay with CBS and will continue to appear on "60 Minutes." She has also apparently been offered a "monster anchor" job, which includes a chief political anchor role at the network, in addition to a post as anchor of "CBS Evening News," Page Six reported.
The current anchor of "CBS Evening News" is Jeff Glor, but there have been rumors for months that Norah is vying for that position and likely to get it. Jeff is expected to stay with the network in a non-anchor capacity.
As part of the shake-up, "CBS This Morning" co-host Jeff Dickerson will move to "60 Minutes."
In her move to an evening role, Norah is expecting a huge pay raise, as well. In fact, she has apparently demanded "Gayle King money," a source said. The Daily Mail reported in March that Gayle is likely to ink a deal for $12 million a year.
According to the report, many within the network find Norah "hard to work with" so some aren't exactly thrilled with the moves.
The changes are expected to be announced in mid-May.