The Mirror

CNN Hired (And Fired) A Future Murder Suspect

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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Do you ever really know your coworkers?

TMZ is reporting this week that Jill Blackstone, a former producer to many TV talk shows such as Jerry Springer, Sally Jessy Raphael, The Real, Divorce Court, The Tony Danza Show and Sharon Osbourne was arrested for the murder of her deaf and partially blind sister in San Fernando, Calif. Three dogs are also dead. It’s unclear whether she was involved in their deaths. 

Sources close to HLN’s Dr. Drew Show, on which she worked from June to December in 2012 as a senior producer, remember this woman all too well.

“She’s fucking toxic,” a source told The Mirror. (The woman’s out after initially being held on a $1 million bail so we’ve understandably allowed our sources leeway on anonymity.)

CNN did wind up firing her after six months. But not before they say she made life a living hell for her coworkers.

“She made that show a living hell,” said a source, who vividly recalled her using the N-word. “I never talk to HR. I wrote a letter to HR — she’s that psycho.”

To say she was universally hated while she was there is an understatement. “Ugh ugh ugh,” a source said, growing animated just remembering what it was like to work with her. “Honest to God, I don’t hate anybody, but I hate her. She’s a psychotic, racist little bitch.”

Coworkers recall Blackstone routinely coming to work with black eyes. “The excuse was ‘oh, I slipped in the tub,'” a source recalled.

Sources say CNN Human Resources warned the show not to hire her, telling management she was “a problem” hire. They didn’t listen and employees paid the price of having to work with such a perceived lunatic. Sources remember her conducting office meetings from her odd perch — lying flat out on the floor with her belly exposed.

Mirror sources say Blackstone was ultimately fired for her racial remarks.

According to the TMZ report, Blackstone phoned in the deaths herself. Her sister was found dead in a garage, dead from apparent carbon monoxide poisoning. There was a suicide note, but police found the whole thing suspicious. Still, Blackstone was released Wednesday afternoon.

The DA has reportedly dropped the charges. But LAPD continues its investigation.