On Monday morning, a huge billboard across the street from CNN’s office building in Hollywood, California, carried a strong anti-CNN message, reportedly created by conservative street artists. The billboard featured a picture of CNN President Jeff Zucker with the caption underneath him reading “CEO, CNNPC” and a huge message displayed across the central part of the billboard reading “Keep Korea Divided.*” In the lower left area of the billboard was written, “CNN Communist News Network,” while on the bottom right area of the billboard the asterisk that followed the Keep Korea Divided message was followed by “because OrangeManBad.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter (THR), the billboard was created by the conservative street art group “The Faction” in response to CNN’s biased coverage of President Trump’s recent meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. THR reported that the NPC after Zucker’s name was a reference to “robotic liberalism allegedly displayed by mainstream journalists.”
The Hollywood Reporter spoke to a member of The Faction who said, “When Trump speaks glowingly of Kim Jong Un, it’s a tactic. Zucker and his journo-activists know this, but are more than willing to try to torpedo the summit — the future of the long-suffering North and South Korean people be damned.”
The Faction, according to THR, was responsible for a hilarious joke last August when it created numerous fake Donald Trump stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to confuse vandals who repeatedly defaced the Trump star on the Walk of Fame. THR reported at the time:
The effort comes from a conservative street artist who wishes to remain anonymous, but says he was motivated not only by the destruction of the president’s real star, but also a recent unanimous vote by the West Hollywood City Council to recommend the removal of Trump’s star due to accusations he has mistreated women. The anonymous artist says he’s not done with his mission to preserve Trump’s star. “Rip up the president’s Walk of Fame star or try to have it removed — like you’re the mayor of West Hollywood or something — and 30 more will pop up,” the artist tells The Hollywood Reporter.
The artist and his cohorts, who call themselves “The Faction” and are allies of prolific conservative artist Sabo, spent $1,000 on the stars, which they printed on sheets of floor vinyl with adhesive backing, and their mission was partially financed by “a young and anonymous entrepreneur.”
Fox News Channel’s “MediaBuzz” host Howard Kurtz blasted CNN and MSNBC for the paucity of coverage on their networks of the Trump-Kim summit. He stated that last Wednesday, MSNBC and CNN spent roughly two minutes discussing the summit and more than 90 minutes discussing Michael Cohen. He said on Thursday MSNBC’s primetime spent five minutes on North Korea and 88 minutes on Cohen, CNN spent 8 minutes on North Korea and 32 minutes on Michael Cohen.
Kurtz asserted, “Look, I get that Cohen might be the sexier story, and ratings may be a factor, but the other networks made an editorial decision that pounding away at the Cohen hearings, even a day later, endlessly replaying the best soundbites, was far more important than an effort, even an unsuccessful one, to get rid of Kim Jong Un’s nuclear arsenal.”
The anti-CNN billboard stayed up roughly seven hours before it was removed.