Don Lemon‘s firing from CNN was in part due to his highly combative interview last week with Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, according to reports – with insiders saying Lemon was removed to enable a rethink of the struggling morning show, and warning that Lemon appears ready to sue.
Lemon, 57, has spent the last 17 years at CNN and was one of their most recognizable stars, believed to earn $4 million a year.
He was moved from his primetime slot to co-host a new show, CNN This Morning, which launched on November 1, but has failed to find its footing.
Lemon’s combative style, suited to an evening political show, often jarred with the early morning viewers, and he made some significant sexist blunders.
Don Lemon was fired by CNN on Monday. His combative interview on April 19 with Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy was said to be a factor in his firing
Don Lemon, 57, was fired by CNN on Monday after 17 years with the network
Don Lemon defends his claim that women over 40-years old are ‘past their prime’
CNN This Morning co-host Don Lemon gets defensive about his stance that no one really wants to watch women’s soccer
He claimed Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, 51, ‘isn’t in her prime’; argued the U.S. men’s national soccer team was more compelling to watch than the far more successful women’s, which justified the salary gap; and on April 5 was the subject of a brutal profile in Variety which accused him of decades of ‘troubling treatment of women and unprofessional antics’.
He was reprimanded by the new boss Chris Licht, who took over in May 2022, and made to undertake training.
Yet his aggressive style remained, and on April 19 he crossed swords with Ramaswamy about slavery, the Civil War and the Second Amendment.
His co-host, Poppy Harlow, looked glazed over and checked her smartphone as Lemon and Ramaswamy attacked each other.
‘You’re making people think that the Civil War was fought for black people to get guns,’ Lemon said.
‘It’s reductive and I think it’s insulting. There are a whole plethora of reasons for the Civil War.’
Ramaswamy persisted, telling Lemon that ‘with due respect, I find your explanation reductive and actually insulting.’
He continued to argue that allowing black people to own guns was a key factor.
‘Black people secured their freedoms after the Civil War – and it’s a historical fact, Don, just study it – only after their Second Amendment rights were secured,’ he said.
Lemon replied: ‘The whole reason that the Civil Rights movement happened was because black people did not secure their freedoms after the Civil War.’
Lemon said to Ramaswamy: ‘When you are in black skin and you live in this country, then you can disagree with me.’
Ramaswamy took issue with the comment.
Sources told The New York Times that the encounter ‘left several CNN leaders exasperated’.
‘There were rumblings inside CNN that they are revamping the morning show and Lemon’s firing may have been part of that,’ a source told DailyMail.com.
‘But Don may have blew it all up when he tweeted out the news.’
Lemon said on Twitter he was ‘stunned’ by his firing.
He appeared on air as usual on Monday morning, and appeared unconcerned as he signed off.
Lemon waves goodbye at the end of CNN This Morning on Monday – a moment that would prove to be his final appearance as a CNN anchor after 17 years with the network
Don Lemon tweeted out his outrage that he had been fired from CNN on Monday afternoon
Lemon then announced the news on Twitter, saying he was informed by his agent that he was being terminated.
‘I am stunned,’ Lemon wrote.
‘After 17 years at CNN I would have thought someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly.’
He added: ‘It is clear that there are some larger issues at play.’
CNN refuted Lemon’s account in a tweet, calling it ‘inaccurate.’
The network said he was offered a chance to meet with management but ‘instead released a statement on Twitter.’
Licht said that the network and Lemon have ‘parted ways.’
‘Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years,’ the statement said.
‘We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.’
CNN CEO Chris Licht confirmed the firing of Don Lemon on Monday
Yet insiders told DailyMail.com that the angry tone of Lemon’s tweet suggested he was likely to sue.
‘It’s unclear why he was fired now,’ the source said.
‘And the fireable behavior happened before today.
‘It’ll be interesting to see what he does next. What does he mean by ‘larger forces at play’?
‘Sounds to me like he’s going to sue.’
Lemon has retained the aggressive Hollywood litigator Bryan Freedman to deal with his severance.
His contract with CNN runs through 2026, according to two people who spoke to The New York Times.
Lemon’s former primetime colleague Chris Cuomo, who was fired in December 2021, is currently suing for damages, with reports of the amount ranging from $18 million to $125 million.
He argued in March last year that his career has suffered damages in excess of $125 million, and said it cost him nearly $15 million in salary that he would have earned if he had served out his last contract.
Lemon in February 2022 told a staff meeting he did not think Cuomo should get a payout, arguing that he broke journalistic ethics.
The best of the worst of Don Lemon
Was Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 swallowed by a black hole? – During coverage of the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 in 2014, Don Lemon asked a panel of experts whether it was possible the Boeing jet might have been swallowed up by a black hole:
‘People are saying to me, why aren’t you talking about the possibility – and I’m just putting it out there – that something odd happened to this plane, something beyond our understanding?’ he asked.
‘What if it was something fully that we don’t really understand? A lot of people have been asking about that, about black holes and on, and on, and on, and all of these conspiracy theories,’ he continued, adding comparisons to the Bermuda Triangle and the television show Lost.
US Department of Transportation inspector general Mary Schiavo said the theories were unlikely:
‘Well, it is. A small black hole would suck in our entire universe so we know it’s not that. The Bermuda Triangle is often weather. And Lost is a TV show,’ she said.
Don Lemon espouses about whether a missing jetliner was sucked into a Black Hole
Why didn’t you just bite his penis? – While interviewing Bill Cosby sexual assault accuser Joan Tarshis, Lemon asked her why she didn’t stop him from raping her by biting his penis:
‘You know, there are ways not to perform oral sex if you don’t want to do it,’ he said.
‘I was kind of stoned at the time, and quite honestly, I that didn’t even enter my mind. Now I wish it would have,’ Tashis said.
‘Right. Meaning the using of teeth, right?’ Lemon asked, ‘As a weapon.’
‘Ouch,’ Tashis said, ‘No, it didn’t cross my mind.’
Pull your pants up, black people – In 2013 while talking about Bill O’Reilly’s controversial comments that unmarried black women need to stop having children and inner city schools need to enforce discipline, Lemon argued the Fox News host’s plans to elevate black people wasn’t as bold as it should be.
‘In my estimation, he doesn’t go far enough,’ said Lemon. ‘Walking around with your a** and your underwear showing is not okay. In fact, it comes from prison. When they take away belts from prisoners so they can’t make a weapon. And then it evolved into which role each prisoner would have during male-on-male prison sex.’
Lemon went on to explain black people should stop using the N-word, and refrain from littering.
