Writer Adam Conover skewers CNN owner over salary during appearance on CNN amid writers strike

Late night shows will go dark this week as the writer’s strike begins

Adam Conover, a television writer and the host of Adam Ruins Everything, skewered the CEO of Warner Bros Discovery while appearing on one of the company's television networks, CNN.

Conover was discussing the Writers’ Guild of America's decision to strike and invoked the CEO of CNN's parent company while explaining why the scribes are planning to drop their pens.

“David Zaslav, the CEO of Warner Bros Discovery, which is the parent company of the network I’m talking to you on right now, was paid $250m last year, a quarter-of-a-billion dollars,” he said.

He said the CEO's salary was enough to pay thousands of writers who are asking for better pay.

“That’s about the same level as what 10,000 writers are asking him to pay all of us collectively, alright," he said. "So I would say if you’re being paid $250m ... these companies are making enormous amounts of money, their profits are going up. It’s ridiculous for them to plead poverty.”

Conover was having the discussion with CNN host Sara Sidner, who joked that his public call-out may get her in trouble with the company.

"Thank you so much for coming on because you ruin everything," she quipped. "You may have just ruined my career, but I don't mind. Appreciate you coming on."

The strike began early Tuesday, and comes after a breakdown between the WGA and a trade association representing Hollywood's biggest studios.

The WGA said its members are facing an "existential crisis" and accused the studios of creating a "gig economy" within a unionised workforce.

WGA writer and host of ‘Adam Ruins Everything’ Adam Conover discusses the writer’s strike during a segment on CNN (screengrab/CNN)

“The companies’ behavior has created a gig economy inside a union work force, and their immovable stance in this negotiation has betrayed a commitment to further devaluing the profession of writing,” the union said, according to NBC News.

The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents studios, television networks and streaming platforms, insisted that its offer included "generous increases in compensation for writers."

One of the main points of tension between the union and the studios is a demand from the workers that the companies agree to employ a certain number of writers for set periods of time, even if the writers are not needed. That would provide an element of job security and consistency for the writers.

“This is why we’re striking,” Conover wrote on Twitter. “The studios are trying to turn writing into a gig job. Eliminating the writers room, forcing screenwriters to work for free, paying late night writers a “day rate.” If we don’t fight back, writing will cease to exist as a livable career.”

The strike will halt work on ongoing projects and will be immediately noticeable on certain programmes, like late night talk-shows, in which writers produce daily content.