CNN Executive Vice President Ken Jautz announced on Aug. 25 that Dr. Drew Pinsky’s show “Dr. Drew on Call” will be cancelled with the final episode airing on Sept. 22.
Jautz said in a statement that the decision was a mutual agreement between him and Pinsky.
“Dr. Drew and his team have delivered more than five years of creative shows and I want to thank them for their hard work and distinctive programming,” said Jautz in the statement, as reported by CNN Money. “Their audience-driven shows, in particular, were innovative and memorable TV. And Dr. Drew has been an authoritative voice on addiction and on many other topical issues facing America today.”
Jautz did not give a specific reason why it was canceling Pinsky’s show. In its reporting of the announcement, CNN Money said the cancellation of the show was linked to a larger shakeup at CNN’s sister network HLN, which included the end of Nancy Grace’s show.
Questioning Clinton’s Health
The announcement comes just days after Pinsky questioned the state of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s health in an episode.
The episode, which aired on KABC’s “McIntyre in the Morning,” was later removed from the station’s website, The Washington Post reported.
In the episode Pinsky said, “Based on the information that she has provided and her doctors have provided, we were gravely concerned not just about her health.”
Pinsky’s comments came after the Clinton campaign released a 2015 physician’s letter detailing her health.
“When she hit her head, she had to wear these prism glasses when she came out … That is brain damage,” he said.
Pinsky also criticized the care that Clinton is receiving. “It just seems like she’s getting care from somebody that she met in Arkansas when she was a kid,” Pinsky said, according to The Washington Post.
Past Controversy
It is not the first time Pinsky had brought up Clinton’s health. In January, he was forced to apologize after he cited a report by the Breitbart news website questioning Clinton’s health. Breitbart’s executive director Steve Bannon was recently appointed as Donald Trump’s campaign CEO.
“Earlier tonight, I mistakenly raised an anonymously sourced report about Hillary Clinton’s health. By doing so, I violated HLN and CNN’s editorial standards and I was wrong to have mentioned the unsubstantiated report,” Pinsky said in a statement on HLN’s website.
“I regret the error and will make sure, in the future, to apply the rigorous editorial standards we have in place here. I apologize to our viewers and Secretary Clinton for falling short tonight,” he said.
Insiders have disputed the idea that the cancellation of “Dr. Drew on Call” was related to Pinsky’s comments about Clinton’s health. An unnamed HLN source told TheWrap that the decision to cancel the show was made weeks before Pinsky’s comments on Clinton’s health.
Meanwhile, Clinton campaign dismissed rumors about her health earlier this month. After Trump said in a speech that Clinton was not mentally and physically capable to take on the ISIS terrorist group, the campaign shot back by describing his comments as “deranged conspiracy theories.”
“Donald Trump is simply parroting lies based on fabricated documents promoted by Roger Stone and his right wing allies,” said Jennifer Palmieri, Clinton’s communications director, in a statement.
