Gayle King, Katy Perry and Lauren Sanchez largely succeeded in making themselves essentially the most hated ladies in America in the course of the week of April 14, once they and King’s “CBS Mornings” present made a faux-female empowerment spectacle out of their quickie, “P.R.” stunt house journey aboard one among billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin rockets.
However as “cringeworthy” and “tone-deaf” as many viewers discovered this “gluttonous,” movie star space-tourism journey, the occasion nonetheless delivered a rankings enhance for King’s embattled morning present on April 14, NewscastStudio.com reported, citing Neilson Media Analysis launched by CBS.
“CBS Mornings” loved an “impressive, rare, first-place finish” within the rankings for morning information exhibits on that day, NewscastStudio.com reported. Some 3.9 million viewers tuned into CBS Mornings that morning, forward of the normally top-rated “Today” on NBC or “Good Morning America on ABC.
However NewscastStudio.com cautioned towards studying an excessive amount of into this rankings soar, noting that “CBS Mornings” has lengthy lagged behind the opposite two exhibits in that point interval, significantly no. 1 “Today” present. That final time that “CBS Mornings” was the top-rated present was the morning of March 8, 2021. That’s when it aired one other high-profile section: extra footage from Oprah Winfrey’s blockbuster interview with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry from the evening earlier than.
It’s additionally straightforward to think about that lots of people tuned in to “hate watch” the 11-minute house journey. Perry, King, Sanchez and “CBS Mornings” have been seen as “embarrassing” themselves of their effort to advertise the occasion as “historic,” by saying they have been a part of the primary all-female “crew” to go up into house.
However earlier than the flight, an internet refrain of detractors expressed anger and horror on the manner these ladies talked up getting their hair and make-up completed for the journey. Critics additionally famous that not one of the ladies can be piloting the craft, as a result of it’s totally automated, and that the journey would final lower than 11 minutes, that means they might hardly be thought of “astronauts.”
Furthermore, Perry, King and Sanchez have been excoriated or being wealthy celebrities, happening a “vanity ride” aboard a billionaire’s rocket — when many People face fears of recession or of dropping their retirement financial savings as a result of international financial turmoil unleashed by Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Earlier than and after the journey, different feminine celebrities, like Olivia Munn, Jessica Chastain, Olivia Wilde, Emily Ratajkowski, blasted the feminist P.R. spin. Many others additionally shared their revulsion over this “P.R stunt” on behalf of Bezos and Sanchez, who’ve been slammed as self-serving “oligarchs” who need to profit by being pleasant to the Trump administration.
Many individuals on-line additionally wrote in a gallows-humor manner concerning the probability of one thing going fallacious, and plenty of even joked about these ladies being shot up into house — and never coming again. Even an organization like Wendy’s joined the pile-on, asking on X about Perry: “Can we send her back?”
Actually, “CBS Mornings” and King, its movie star co-anchor, took a reputational hit by having her present free publicity for an aerospace firm based by Bezos, the founding father of Amazon.
CBS and Blue Origin have refused to say whether or not King was Bezos’s visitor. Reviews say that the fee for a single seat on a Blue Origin rocket can begin within the six figures and probably rise into the hundreds of thousands. CBS Information is amongst information organizations that forbid their anchors and reporters from accepting “freebies.”
“Only time will tell” if “CBS Mornings” can say it was value taking part on this Blue Origin occasion, as NewscastStudio.com reported. The community might want to see if the rankings enhance interprets into new viewers who will proceed to tune in for the long run, or if the surge was simply an anomaly and the results of a high-profile section.
Sadly, the Blue Origin journey turned out to be broadly considered as a P.R. debacle for just about everybody concerned, and it stays to be seen who can climate this storm. This debacle comes as “CBS Mornings” has struggled to climb out of third place behind ABC and NBC, the Los Angeles Occasions reported in March. Whereas morning applications stay the revenue facilities of the networks’ information divisions, all of them have confronted viewers erosion as shoppers have moved away from conventional TV.
