Jeffrey Toobin.Photo: Vivien Killilea/Getty
Jeffrey Toobin is back at work — and finally addressing the elephant in the room.
Whilemaking his return to CNNon Thursday, the network’s chief legal analyst opened up aboutbeing terminated from his longtime roleatThe New Yorkerin November. Nearly a month before his firing, Toobin was caught masturbating on camera during a Zoom call with his then-colleagues.
“Obviously, I wasn’t thinking very well or very much. It was something that was inexplicable to me,” Toobin, 61, said to CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota onCNN Newsroom. “I think one point — I wouldn’t exactly say, ‘In my defense,’ because nothing is really in my defense — I didn’t think I was on the call. I didn’t think other people could see me. … I thought that I had turned off the Zoom call.”
“Now, that’s not a defense. This was deeply moronic and indefensible, but that is part of the story. I have spent the seven subsequent months — miserable months in my life, I can certainly confess — trying to be a better person,” he added.
Toobin explained that he’s been seeing a therapist, writing a new book and working at a food bank following the scandal. He, in the end, is trying to “become the kind of person that people can trust again.”
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“They were shocked and appalled,” he recalled. “I think they realized that this was not intended for them. I think they realized that this was something that I would immediately regret, as I certainly did. It was that day that I began apologizing and that is something that I have tried to continue to do both publicly and privately.”
Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
Toobin said that he didn’t want to give an insincere apology to those he hurt. “I have tried and I’m trying now to say how sorry I am, sincerely, in all seriousness,” he said.
“Above all, I am sorry to my wife [Amy Bennett McIntosh] and to my family, but I’m also sorry to the people on the Zoom call,” he continued. “I am sorry to my former colleagues atThe New Yorker. I’m sorry to my current — fortunately still — colleagues at CNN. And I’m sorry to the people who read my work and who watched me on CNN who thought I was a better person than this. I’ve got a lot to rebuild, but I feel very privileged and very lucky that I’m going to be able to try to do that.”
source: people.com
