• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, May 17, 2023

In an Upfront Week mired by picket lines and boycott campaigns, the focus shifts to an attack aimed at Warner Bros. Discovery's upfront presentation today. Specifically, it's CNN unit, which a new ad from The Lincoln Project rebrands as TNN, for the "Trump News Network."

The ad draws more attention to CNN chief Chris Licht's decision to air a largely unchecked campaign platform in prime time featuring the twice-impeached former president in front of a live -- and loving -- MAGA audience.

The Lincoln Project said it will "geofence" the setting for today's upfront at The Theater at Madison Square Garden, as well as CNN's New York headquarters, with the digital ad, as well as mobile billboards traversing both locations.

“Advertisers need to be aware that their brands will be prominently displayed next to the messages of anti-American hatred, racial hostility, wild conspiracies, and violence of MAGA GOP,” Lincoln Project Co-Founder Reed Galen said in a statement, adding, “In one critical night, Licht destroyed CNN’s reputation, angered professional journalists at the network, and made its brand advertising poison. Licht committed journalistic malpractice by giving a corrupt sexual abuser who instigated an attack on the Capitol an almost uninterrupted pep rally.”