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CNN is off to a fantastic start in the second annual "Liberal Hack Tournament," with its personalities taking all nine matchups Friday in the "Liberal Activists" and "Fake News" brackets.
The network's left-wing media guru Brian Stelter, who won the "Hack" crown last year, scored a blowout victory as the No. 1 seed in the Fake News division over No. 16 seed Cook Political Report editor Jessica Taylor. Stelter earned a whopping 97.7% of the 6,100 votes that were cast. His colleague, Jim Acosta, the No. 2 seed, recorded a similarly decisive win over No. 15 seed Vanity Fair correspondent Gabriel Sherman, with 97.1% of the more than 7,300 votes.
In one of two first round CNN vs. CNN matchups, anchor Jake Tapper handily defeated "fact-checker" Daniel Dale with 71% of the nearly 7,000 votes. Tapper advances to face another colleague, CNN global affairs analyst Max Boot, who took out ABC heavyweight George Stephanopoulos -- also with 71% of the vote.
'LIBERAL HACK TOURNAMENT' BRACKETS ANNOUNCED, STARS FROM CNN, MSNBC COMPETE FOR 'HACK' ROYALTY
The next intra-network cage match is between primetime anchors Anderson Cooper and Chris Cuomo, which will conclude on Saturday but Cuomo began with a substantial lead on Friday.
CNN political analyst April Ryan, whose profile has been substantially lowered during the coronavirus pandemic, still pulled off a narrow victory over MSNBC anchor Katy Tur with 51.4% of the vote. She'll be the underdog in the next round against defending champion Stelter.
Other CNN personalities who remain in contention include Don Lemon, Ana Navarro, S.E. Cupp, and John Harwood.
Meanwhile, MSNBC hosts Joy Reid and Chris Hayes will be competing against each other in the second round after knocking out Washington Post journalists Aaron Blake and Glenn Kessler, respectively. PBS NewsHour correspondent Yamiche Alcindor, an MSNBC contributor, dominated NBC News reporter Sahil Kapur with nearly 83% of the vote as a No. 4 seed and will move on to face off against Cupp.
However, MSNBC's heavy favorite is its star contributor, Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin, a No. 1 seed in the "Liberal Activists" division who landed an incredible 97.4% of the vote against No. 16 seed Matt Fuller of the Daily Beast.
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Other "Liberal Activists" seeking the "Hack" crown include Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times Magazine, Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt, and Daily Beast columnist Wajahat Ali.
Early voting in the "Establishment" division indicates a strong possibility of a stunning upset, with CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, a No. 16 seed who has been benched since last fall following his Zoom masturbation scandal, holding an edge over No. 1 seed Matthew Dowd, the former ABC News political analyst who has recently made numerous appearances on the liberal cable networks. Toobin is hoping to make a valiant comeback in the public eye following his lengthy absence. The results in both the "Establishment" and the "Way Too Online" divisions will be determined on Saturday.
A spokesperson for the "Ruthless" podcast, who is sponsoring the tournament, told Fox News the tournament matchups expect to receive more than 200,000 votes in the first round. The matchups are conducted on Twitter by conservative personality and "Ruthless" co-host Comfortably Smug.
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"These contestants put on quite a show in the first round. Powerhouses like Rubin, Stelter and Cuomo dominated as expected, but Toobin absolutely shocked everyone with a surprise guaranteed to live forever in the memories of all who witnessed it. Instant classic," the spokesperson said.
The tournament is an NCAA-style contest pitting members of the mainstream media against each other in the ultimate fight to become the supreme hack.
"Ruthless," which is co-hosted by Comfortably Smug, 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.