Meghan McCain Slams CNN for Protecting 'Old White Male Dinosaurs' After Toobin Return

Meghan McCain has criticized CNN for bringing back legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin eight months after he was caught exposing himself during a work Zoom call.

The View host and daughter of Senator John McCain was one of a number of conservative figures to express their outrage at the news network for allowing Toobin to return to his on-air role. Toobin was fired by The New Yorker for his conduct during the video call with colleagues in October.

"I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera," Toobin said in a statement after he was fired in November. He also took leave from his CNN role at the time.

McCain described Toobin's return to CNN on Thursday as "garbage," while suggesting no woman would be welcomed back after being disgraced in such a manner.

"Why does the media protect these old white male dinosaurs in this industry?" McCain tweeted.

"No woman on PLANET EARTH would be welcomed back on network TV after being caught masturbating in front of her colleagues. What does working at a food bank have to do with this?"

Political commentator and former Fox News presenter Megyn Kelly made a similar point about Toobin's return to CNN.

"There is not a woman alive who could have done anything close to what Jeffrey Toobin did (not that one would) and kept her job," Kelly tweeted. "What a disgusting, incestuous boys' club. So damned tired of it."

McCain replied to Kelly's tweet, writing: "SO F*****G TIRED OF IT!!!!"

Toobin discussed the Zoom incident during his appearance on CNN on Thursday.

CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota asked the legal analyst: "What the hell were you thinking?"

Toobin replied: "Well, obviously, I wasn't thinking very well or very much.

"And it was something that was inexplicable to me. I think one point—I wouldn't exactly say in my defense, because nothing is really in my defense—I didn't think I was on the call. I didn't think other people could see me."

Camerota asked if he had thought he had turned off his camera before exposing himself.

"Correct," Toobin said. "I thought that I had turned off the Zoom call.

"Now, that's not a defense. This was deeply moronic and indefensible. But that is part of the story. I have spent the seven subsequent months, miserable months in my life, I can certainly confess, trying to be a better person," he added.

CNN has been contacted for comment.