CNN's chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin pulled off a stunning upset on Saturday in the first round of the "Liberal Hack Tournament," hoping to potentially launch a career comeback following his Zoom masturbation scandal last fall.
Toobin, a No. 16 seed, has been benched for several months ever since his firing from the New Yorker magazine after he was caught pleasuring himself on a work Zoom call with colleagues. And he has been taking "time off" from CNN since the controversy emerged.
The CNN star was up against heavyweight Matthew Dowd, the former ABC News political analyst and No. 1 seed in the "Establishment" division of the tournament. But despite all odds, Toobin won over the hearts of voters, picking up 56% of the over 7,200 Twitter ballots.
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Perhaps Toobin will use further success in the viral contest as an entry back into public life and be welcomed back on his employer CNN's airwaves, which could become the tournament's biggest redemption story of the year.
"No contestant ever offered a more unforgettable spectacle than Jeff Toobin, who not only uncaged his inner lion but really let it roar. He was down at the start, but refused to quit until he finished the job. It was the sort of winning performance that now has handicappers predicting he’ll beat out another high-ranked seed in the second round," a tournament analyst from the "Ruthless" podcast told Fox News.
Toobin is among a whopping 13 CNN stars who are advancing into the second round. In a CNN primetime cage match, Chris Cuomo won in a blowout against Anderson Cooper with over 92% of the vote, aided by the scandals plaguing his brother Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, which he now says he "obviously" cannot cover after hosting the "Luv Guv" on his show for nearly a dozen chummy interviews last year.
CNN's Oliver Darcy and Chris Cillizza also secured their spots in the "Way-Too-Online" division of the tournament after their network colleagues swept the "Liberal Activists" and "Fake News" divisions on Friday.
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MSNBC did pick up much-needed momentum on Saturday after a weak showing in Friday's matchups. Rachel Maddow is hoping to exceed her Final Four performance last year and go for the crown after earning 85% of the vote against Politico's Ryan Lizza in the first found. She will face off next week against Bulwark editor-at-large Bill Kristol, which is shaping up to be one of the most highly-anticipated matchups in the second round.
Maddow's colleagues Chuck Todd, Joe Scarborough, and viral "Last Word" producer Kyle Griffin round out MSNBC's eight competitors still in the contest.
However, the stars of CNN and MSNBC may have to face a strong challenger. New York Times reporter Taylor Lorenz, a newcomer in #HackMadness and a No. 1 seed in the "Way-Too-Online" division, is a heavy favorite among voters earning 96% of the vote in the first round against Emily Singer of the progressive American Independent.
Other notable aspiring "hacks" advancing into the second round include Lincoln Project co-founder and accused sexual predator John Weaver, Vox journalist Aaron Rupar, Washington Post correspondent Dave Weigel, as well as Toobin's former New Yorker colleague Jane Mayer, who reportedly witnessed his lewd Zoom display last fall.
In what many would consider being another tournament upset, Mayer defeated Alexi McCammond, who dominated headlines this week as the latest victim of cancel culture when she announced her departure from Teen Vogue as the incoming editor-in-chief after staffers expressed outrage over offensive tweets she wrote a decade ago as a 17-year-old high schooler.
McCammond, who was previously known as a reporter for Axios and an MSNBC contributor, had a disappointing performance in the tournament, getting just 45.5% of the vote despite being a No. 7 seed over Mayer's No. 10 seed.
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The tournament, sponsored by "Ruthless," is a viral NCAA-style contest pitting members of the mainstream media against each other in the ultimate fight to become the supreme hack. The matchups are conducted on Twitter by conservative personality and "Ruthless" co-host Comfortably Smug.
"Ruthless," which is also co-hosted by Josh Holmes, and Michael Duncan, is described as a "variety progrum" that "brings the next generation of conservative talk to the next level." New episodes are released every Tuesday and Thursday.