President Trump Responds To Death Of CNN Founder Ted Turner

President Trump has released a statement on the death of CNN founder Ted Turner.

As previously reported by the WLT Report, CNN founder Ted Turner has died at the age of 87.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump eulogized Turner and shared that the founder of CNN was one of the “Greats of All Time.”

Trump added that Turner was a friend of his, and the founder of CNN was devastated that his news network, which he had sold, had become “woke.”

Read President Trump’s full statement on Truth Social below:

Ted Turner, one of the Greats of All Time, just died. He founded CNN, sold it, and was personally devastated by the Deal because the new ownership took CNN, his “baby,” and destroyed it.

It became woke, and everything that he is not all about. Maybe the new buyers, wonderful people, will be able to bring it back to its former credibility and glory. Regardless, however, one of the Greats of Broadcast History, and a friend of mine.

Whenever I needed him, he was there, always willing to fight for a good cause! President DONALD J. TRUMP

President Donald J. Trump on the passing of Ted Turner: pic.twitter.com/OwIwl58CRT

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) May 6, 2026

The New York Times shared details on Turner’s life and career:

Ted Turner, the media mogul who cut a brash and vivid figure on the American scene of the late 20th century by dominating the cable television industry, creating the 24-hour news cycle with CNN, and extending his restless reach into professional sports, environmentalism and philanthropy, died on Wednesday at his home near Tallahassee, Fla. He was 87.

Phillip Evans, a spokesman for the family, confirmed the death. Mr. Turner announced in 2018 that he had Lewy body dementia, a progressive brain disorder.

Mr. Turner’s signature creation was CNN — the Cable News Network — which revolutionized television news in 1980 by presenting it all hours of the day and eventually inspiring other media operations to follow suit. But his portfolio of business ventures bulged with much more, and their impact on American culture was considerable.

As a spinoff of CNN, Mr. Turner created the channel CNN Headline News and CNN International. He founded the cable and satellite sports and entertainment “superstation” that became known as TBS and spawned a sister channel, TNT, both of which continue to reach millions of homes.

In 1985, he bought for $1.5 billion the MGM studio’s library of films and nine years later created the cable franchise Turner Classic Movies, or TCM. He made a similar purchase of Hanna-Barbera cartoons and, relying on them, created the Cartoon Network in 1992. And in 1996, he merged his conglomerate, Turner Broadcasting System, with Time Warner to create one of the world’s largest media companies.

Along the way, he found the time and energy to captain the winning yacht in the America’s Cup race in 1977 and to take an active role as owner of the Atlanta Braves, giving the team extended national exposure on Turner-owned television.

“I’m trying to set the all-time record for achievement by one person in one lifetime,” he told the journalist Dale Van Atta in a Reader’s Digest article in 1998. “And that puts you in pretty big company: Alexander the Great, Napoleon, Gandhi, Christ, Mohammed, Buddha, Washington, Roosevelt, Churchill.”

Not even his staunchest admirers placed Mr. Turner on that high a pedestal. But even a bitter rival like the media magnate Rupert Murdoch — who once had his New York Post run the headline “Is Turner Insane?” — had to concede that he was one of the most influential figures in the history of mass media.

Here was Turner’s take on CNN way back in 2003:

CNN founder Ted Turner told 60 Minutes in 2003 there were “some things” he didn’t like about the network, joking that he was “the old fuddy-duddy.”

The media tycoon died today at age 87. pic.twitter.com/gScq5cPuy3

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) May 6, 2026

What’s your verdict?