“I met him [Joe Biden] twice,” revealed CNN stage manager Pablo Parada during an undercover date with an OMG journalist. “When he was the vice president, and then when he was running for president.” Observing a clear shift between the two encounters, Parada remarked, “He was sharper, for sure,” pointing to a noticeable mental decline in Biden since their first meeting. When asked if Biden’s condition was widely recognized during his presidency, Parada confirmed, “Yeah, everybody knew.” Parada, who works directly with Anchor Jake Tapper revealed, “Even Tapper, like, wrote a book about it. I mean, he doesn’t want to reveal that in front of us, but…” admitting Tapper was aware of Biden’s decline yet withheld his knowledge from viewers.
Parada also discussed Tapper’s behind-the-scenes reactions to editorial choices, particularly involving coverage of Donald Trump. “Sometimes he [Jake Tapper] gets frustrated when we are covering too much about something, such as Trump,” Parada said. “He’s like, ‘why do we need to cover it?’… ‘Why are we still doing this?’… ‘More things are important, you know?’”
While Tapper delivers the news on air, Parada noted that anchors don’t control what stories are prioritized. “You know that the news are not managed by them,” he said. “There are a lot of producers, executive producers. Also, you have the morning call that includes the CEO of the company. And they talk about what they want to cover during the day.”
Tapper, Parada said, prefers to talk about topics outside of politics. “When we talk, we just talk about everything but news,” he said. “Like, personal life, things like that. His book. He loves talking about his book.”
Referencing a Jon Stewart segment that mocked Tapper for repeatedly promoting his book, Parada said Tapper responded the next day: “He was like, ‘I’m not going to show them to them… because of that Stewart, Jon Stewart segment, making fun of me.’” When asked if Tapper was upset, Parada added, “He was just, ‘no, I’m not mad.’ And I’m like, yeah, clearly. It just hurt.”
Beyond editorial decisions and off-air silence, Parada also revealed broader instability within CNN’s corporate structure. “We heard, like, the company now, they want to sell it [CNN],” he said, describing the move as “more like a strategic thing that they want to do.” Tracing the network’s shifting ownership, Parada explained, “Originally, we were under the umbrella of Turner… then, we were sold for AT&T… now, we are under Warner Brothers, Discovery. And now, we just heard, some people say that there are, you know, maybe a new one.”
Turning to other internal issues, Parada detailed what he says was an ultimatum given to anchor Kasie Hunt after multiple show failures. “She’s been trying better because this is like the fourth show she’s doing,” revealed Parada, adding, “We believe at work that they give her an ultimatum.” Emphasizing the failure of Hunt’s previous show attempts, Parada stated, “The first show didn’t work out. Second show, same. Third, same.” He continued, “Now she’s trying to, like, be better with her personality.”He also elaborated on anchor Anderson Cooper’s behavior with colleagues: “He doesn’t like to talk to people. He always says like, ‘I’m shy, I’m a shy person, I have a shy personality.’ But then you, I don’t know, like a senator comes in and he has all the personality. And I’m like, what?”
OMG has reached out to CNN, Jake Tapper, and Pablo Parada for comment regarding Parada’s statements.
