Of all the major news-anchor dramas in recent years, the Don Lemon stuff was so uninteresting to me. Lemon was a longtime CNN anchor and their morning show co-host. He should have been fired years ago for his on-and-off-camera behavior, including so many ageist and sexist comments on-air and a culture of harassment, sexism and just “bad behavior” off-camera, mostly with his staff. I have no idea why CNN didn’t pull the plug on Lemon before now, but here we are. Just a few months ago, Lemon stepped in sh-t yet again when he said, on air, that Nikki Haley isn’t a viable candidate because, as a 51 year old woman, she’s not “in her prime.” It would be weird if that was the breaking point, but it looks like it was. Lemon got sh-tcanned from CNN on Monday, seemingly within minutes of Fox News firing Tucker Carlson.
CNN has parted ways with longtime host Don Lemon. The announcement Monday came without explanation and astonished the media industry.
“Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years,” said CNN CEO Chris Licht in a memo to staff. “We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.”
Lemon anchored “CNN This Morning” with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins. The show has been on the air for nearly six months.
“We are committed to its success,” Licht said of the morning show.
In a statement of his own, Lemon said his agent told him Monday morning that CNN had terminated him.
“I am stunned,” Lemon said, arguing that management did not have “the decency” to inform him of his firing directly. “At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network,” Lemon added
CNN rebutted Lemon, calling his version of events “inaccurate.”
“He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter,” the network said in a statement.
Ah, the post-firing back-and-forth about who informed whom and when and how. Lemon’s tenure at CNN was messy as f–k, so of course his firing is too. And of course he has the audacity to be “stunned” about it too. Weirdly, Lemon posted a message on Twitter and people can’t understand where it comes from. Word? Notes? Someone suggested that he took a screenshot of an email? Why is the font so big? Why is it blue-lavender?
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) April 24, 2023
MORE on Don Lemon exit, which Lemon is calling a termination:
Some guests were reluctant to appear on-air with Lemon, per CNN bookers. Network research found that audience sentiment on Lemon had dipped following his Nikki Haley controversy. https://t.co/vDVCn2zZ4Y
— Michael M. Grynbaum (@grynbaum) April 24, 2023
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
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- Don Lemon arrives to The Morning Show New York Premiere by APPLE TV, held at Lincoln Center in New York City, Monday, October 28, 2019,Image: 540457339, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: jpistudios.com / JPI Studios / Avalon
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- Don Lemon attends the 13th Annual CNN Heroes: An All-Star Tribute on December 8, 2019 at the Museum of Natural History in New York, New York, USA. photo by Robin Platzer/ Twin Images/ Avalon,Image: 541135719, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Robin Platzer/Twin Images / Twin Images / Avalon
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- Don Lemon attends the 51st Annual Robert F Kennedy Human Rights “Ripple of Hope Awards” on December 12, 2019 at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York, New York, USA. photo by Robin Platzer/ Twin Images/ Avalon,Image: 541167143, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: Robin Platzer/Twin Images / Twin Images / Avalon
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- Don Lemon at the 15th Annual CNN Heroes All- Star Tribute at the American Museum of Natural History on December 12, 2021 in New York city.,Image: 647667250, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Darla Khazei / Avalon
Sorry dude, you’re not in your prime anymore.
Ha ha!
Well said, Flowerlake!
Interesting fact: Tucker and Don have hired the same lawyer to contest their exits from Fox and CNN respectively.
And now, let’s focus on Nikki Haley. Yes, DL should have never referred to her as past her prime (which he is), but her reaction to him being canned was appalling! Trans rights are human rights.
And what gets left out of the conversation is that SHE said Biden was too old to run and wasn’t in HIS prime, which prompted Don to do the “I know I am, but what are you?” response. Immature and stupid, yes, but the reaction was overblown IMO.
Ah, geez, I didn’t know all that. Seems like Don could find a home at Fox.
Good one, flowerlake!👍
File under: “Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”
The Nikki Haley thing might have been the publicly visible breaking point, but the subsequent Variety article didn’t help, either. Plus, he’s been an ass to all his co-hosts and other women at CNN. And his ratings sucked, and they couldn’t get new sponsors, and CNN’s ratings overall have sucked. And the new chairman has been cleaning house for a while. I’m surprised Lemon is surprised.
Yeah, the Nikki Haley comments were weeks ago. This firing now tells me Lemon has made no effort to clean up his act as CNN has continued to hemorrhage viewers. Lemon can’t be really surprised. He’s been skating on thin ice for a long time.
He has probably been getting away with bad behavior for so long that he felt he was untouchable. What a d-bag!
I am in Australia, so I have never seen this program or him. It’s been a big weekend and tonight we were talking about Australian TV personalities who had been carrying on with the same kind of behaviour for years, protected by everyone’s silence, and because they were “big stars”. All it took was one brave woman, and maybe a colleague to back her up and they were out on their arses. We actually lost count of personalities who are no longer on television or radio for these reasons. If any of them took legal action for unfair dismissal, I have never heard of the case they ever won.
In this day and age, how could this Don Lemon be so lacking in self -reflecion and self-awareness, or save the time that he was skating on thin ice? How long did he think people were going to put up with his disgusting behaviour? But then he is an arrogant twat, so legal action is to be expected. These arses never take responsibility.
Yeah, my understanding is he offered yet another non-apology to the female talent & staff, who had already heard enough of those over the years. I think the mood was “it’s him or us.”
With his ratings being bad, plus new management, it seems like an easy call to let him go.
sorry, not sorry. trying to rewrite to play the victim. there’s a spot open on fox news for you to continue your harassment of women. also, that note reads like such such privileged mainsplain. i can hear the condescending tone…
The truth is that he just wasnt very good at his job. There are too many bright, ambitious people out there waiting to fill his spot. I wish Gloria Borger would be considered, although I do t know if she’d be interested.
It would be *chef’s kiss* if Gloria -woman in her prime- replaced Lemon. 🙂
I don’t believe the Nikki Haley comment had anything to do with it – it’s just the excuse the network is using. I suspect we’ll heard more details about tons of things behind the scenes that lead to his firing.
I saw somewhere that recently Karine Jean-Pierre refused to speak to him and only was ok with speaking to his co-hosts. So his bad reputation had become extremely inconvenient
I really like Kaitlyn Collins, I thought she was a great WH correspondent, very knowledgeable. I never watched her on the morning show because I don’t watch CNN in the morning, but I heard the drama about Don’s treatment of Kaitlyn so I was done with him. He was fun to watch when he made fun of Trump but that was about it….so arrogant.
Yes, Kaitlyn Collins is really talented. Lemon was so outclassed on the morning show it was hard to watch. They should have let him go when they cancelled his prime time slot.
His whining about not being contacted directly was gauche.
He made the Nikki Haley comment in reaction to her age shaming congress. Remember she wants to subject biden to test.
When the press pounced on lemon, without the context, I knew they wanted him gone. Cnn waited until something bigger happened so they could fly under the radar.
Cnn wanted to meet with him. Was that before or after they told his agent he’s fired?
Lemon’s comment was stupid, wrong and sexist, no matter what Haley said about Biden first. The subject of Biden’s age is not new and has been discussed even among Democrats. But age 51 is clearly not “past one’s prime” for an elected official, bashing Haley’s age is a stupid way to challenge her candidacy and Lemon went on to bash all women over the age of 40 as past their prime. And when his co-hosts challenged him on it, he doubled down. This situation is his own fault.
I saw a clip of this moment, and the doubling down was the worst part. I think he
is arrogant and self centred and he also seems to be under the impression that just because he’s gay, that he has a camaraderie with women more than he actually does. He obviously knows nothing about women.
Kaiser is right about his morning tenure has been rather messy BUT his not allowing republican guests to lie on air is also a reason he was terminated. Ever since Chris left Stephen Colbert and went to CNN, the plan has been to move the coverage to the right. Kaitlyn Collins (seriously beautiful hair) used to work for Tucker Carlson Daily Caller so she was brought on to be “able to speak to the GOP”. The network has been going down hill for sometime but now it seems to be a pusher of propaganda. I stopped watching a while ago but Don Lemon was a poor choice for a morning anchor. I like John Berman but they placed him in a midday Siberia & it stopped being worth my time or my genie’s memory space.
This. Since CNN changed ownership the writing was on the wall for Don Lemon. At least he left with his head up high, he stopped propaganda and lies with the rewriting of history.
This right here. Of all the legitimate reasons to can this guy, what did him in was calling out the lying guest attempting to school a black man that he has Republicans to thank for civil rights. Apparently, anchors had been put on notice that calling out lies is a fireable offense. I don’t like Lemon, never have, but on this he was right.
I used to watch Don Lemon when there was somerhing seeious going on in the US or during election season. I personally prefered Chris Cuomo and miss him. His comments were out of line and he now has to pay the price.
Yes, Chris Cuomo was the highest rated show they had and I think Don Lemon basked in the afterglow (being the time slot after him). They also had some cute conversations while Chris would pass the mic to Don once his show was over . I used to like those moments, but as it went on it sure seemed like Chris was the one who was being truthful and Don was just saying I love you too, but shut up so I can talk about myself for an hour.
At first I thought maybe Don will end up on News Nation with Chris, but now I bet you he threw Chris under the bus to save his own butt and keep his show when Chris was fired.
Another theory on the interwebs is that he was fired because of his recent fiery interview with GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
That interview was the bridge too far. He actually countered a GOP candidate about his blatant lies about how black American’s got their civil rights when they received their 2nd amendment rights which was not only incorrect but offensive.
Indeed. This was reported by NY Times.
I liked watching Don Lemon at night. I liked the experts he had on. I was disappointed when they moved him to the morning spot. Maybe he’ll join Cuomo on that new news network?