Larry King had some unkind words for CNN, his longtime employer. In an interview with Capital New York, the veteran talk host took issue with the network’s focus on covering the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft, calling it “absurd.”

“I miss being live, which I did all my life, and I miss the big story, though I will tell you, I am glad I am not at CNN now with this missing plane,” King told the publication. “Because that has been turned into the most absurd news story. It was a great news story and then it went absurd.”

He added, “The problem is that, as they now face, with anybody covering a news story, if they call a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, they have to cover it, because they are committed to it. But now it is absurd, you know? ‘Breaking Supposition.’”

CNN’s focus may have given the network stronger ratings, he adds, but it wasn’t “great news work,” King said. He added, “In that same period of time they had landslides in Washington, they had the ferry boat in South Korea, they had Ukraine, they had the GM recall with 13 people killed, and they are leading with the missing plane.”

Larry King