CNN's savage public response to Kirstie Alley diss

She accused CNN of coronavirus fearmongering. Their brutal response instantly went viral. Photo / Getty Images

US news outlet CNN publicly savaged actress Kirstie Alley after she accused them of fearmongering over coronavirus.

The Look Who's Talking actress, 69, is one of the few outspoken Donald Trump supporters in Hollywood and has made headlines with her divisive social media posts in recent weeks.

In a tweet shared with her 1.5m followers overnight, Alley claimed CNN was unjustly whipping up "terror" about the risks of catching coronavirus among its viewers.

"I now Know why my personal friends who walk around in SHEER TERROR of contracting Covid are simply CNN viewers! I decided to watch CNN myself to get a their viewpoint and oh my God DID I EVER!!!! IF YOU TOO WANT TO LIVE IN TERROR WATCH CNN!!

"FEAR OF DYING IS THEIR MANTRA! OMG!" she wrote.

The coronavirus pandemic has so far killed 235,000 Americans, with close to 10 million people in the US now having been infected.

CNN went for the jugular with a public response to Alley's tweet, posted via the CNN Communications account:

"Kirstie, you are welcome to change the channel – just like countless viewers did every time Veronica's Closet came on TV. But don't downplay the loss of nearly 230K American lives. And please, wear a mask."

Damn. For those who don't remember, Veronica's Closet was a late-90s sitcom vehicle for Alley that saw the actress play the head of her own lingerie company in New York. It lasted three seasons before being cancelled in 2000 due to low ratings.

Celeb watchers on social media ate up the drama:

CNN has obliterated Kirstie Alley. pic.twitter.com/M48p03ZfVh

— Ricky Davila (@TheRickyDavila) October 30, 2020

I’m glad Kirstie Alley isn’t afraid of dying because CNN PR just euthanized her. pic.twitter.com/gGUuq6tQOg

— frederickm (@MFrederickM) October 30, 2020

The gay CNN intern after dragging Kirstie Alley: pic.twitter.com/F9wwjlFU5Q

— Ξvan Ross Katz (@evanrosskatz) October 30, 2020

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“Yeah, uh... CNN just killed Kirstie Alley.” pic.twitter.com/TAQSM2wQiq

— John Henson (@John_Henson) October 31, 2020

I SCREAMED pic.twitter.com/7TLHJwcTlT

— chris evans (@notcapnamerica) October 30, 2020

CNN’s Twitter manager getting a notification that Kirstie Alley tweeted about them pic.twitter.com/3B6YCJPJbY

— Yann (@yannhatchuel) October 30, 2020

For what it's worth, Alley responded to their clapback, pointing out that Veronica's Closet was a "rated top 10 in 1997":

Meow ...if only you paid as much attention to Joe Biden’s alleged corrupt business dealings as a TV show that was rated top ten in 1997..... guess you got that wrong too🤷‍♀️ https://t.co/j1BelxVohy

— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) October 30, 2020

Alley caused a stir online earlier this month when she publicly declared her intention to vote for Donald Trump in the upcoming US Presidential election. "He gets things done quickly and he will turn the economy around quickly," she tweeted.

The resulting backlash saw Alley claim she'd never seen "so much name-calling in my life."

"I guess I'm not allowed to have a viewpoint without being called a really nasty names by what I'm going to suppose are really nasty people," she tweeted.