Adam Conover Calls Out David Zaslav’s $250 Million Salary on Air at CNN: ‘The Same Level as 10,000 Writers’

Writer and comedian Adam Conover blasted David Zaslav, the Warner Bros Discovery CEO, during an interview with CNN on Tuesday, a company Zaslav also oversees.

“David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of the network I’m talking to you on right now, was paid $250 million last year, a quarter of a billion dollars,” Conover said during his interview with CNN anchor Sara Sidner. “That’s about the same level as what 10,000 writers are asking him to pay all of us collectively, alright. So I would say if you’re being paid $250 million — these companies are making enormous amounts of money. Their profits are going up. It’s ridiculous for them to plead poverty.”

Conover, a Writers Guild of America member and creator of truTV’s “Adam Ruins Everything,” also called out Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, who made $50.3 million in 2022, a 32% increase from the previous year.

“When the writers who are making their shows, some of them are not able to pay their rent or mortgages — I know writers who have to go on assistance. If you look at these companies, they’re making more money than ever. The people who make the shows for them are making less,” he said.

On Tuesday,WGA members started picketingin New York City and Los Angeles. They gathered outside of the Peacock NewFronts on Fifth Avenue in New York and studios in L.A., including Fox, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Paramount Global, NBCUniversal and Warner Bros.

Closing the interview, Sidner jokingly said: “Thank you so much for coming on because you ruin everything. You may have just ruined my career, but I don’t mind.”