CNN Suspends Ryan Lizza After New Yorker Fires For “Improper Sexual Conduct”

UPDATED with statement from accuser’s attorney: CNN contributor Ryan Lizza has been suspended from the cable news network shortly after The New Yorker gave him the axe for what the magazine called “improper sexual conduct.”

“We have just learned of The New Yorker’s decision,” a CNN spokesperson told Deadline. “Ryan Lizza will not appear on CNN while we look into this matter.”

Announcing it was parting ways with Lizza, New Yorker said: “The New Yorker recently learned that Ryan Lizza engaged in what we believe was improper sexual conduct. We have reviewed the matter and, as a result, have severed ties with Lizza. Due to a request for privacy, we are not commenting further.” WaPo reported it first.

Lizza has responded:

“I am dismayed that The New Yorker has decided to characterize a respectful relationship with a woman I dated as somehow inappropriate. The New Yorker was unable to cite any company policy that was violated.”

Wigdor LLP, which is repping the woman who made the claim against Lizza, said in a statement, that “in no way did Mr. Lizza’s misconduct constitute a ‘respectful relationship’ as he has now tried to characterize it. Our client reported Mr. Lizza’s actions to ensure that he would be held accountable and in the hope that by coming forward she would help other potential victims.”

Lizza, who been The New Yorker‘s Washington correspondent since 2007, is maybe best known to CNN viewers these days as the journalist who had that interesting interview with Anthony Scaramucci, shortly after he was named White House Communications Director. In their chat, Scaramucci claimed then-White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon engages in autofellatio, and other interesting observations. With that interview, Scaramucci became the shortest tenured White House Communications Director in U.S. history.