If we ask the Spanish public who Don Lemon is, surely no one knows who he is or, at most, thinks that he is the CEO of Lemon8, the social network with which ByteDance could have a second chance if TikTok were banned in the United States. But no, Don Lemon is (or, rather, was) one of the visible faces of American television. More specifically, CNN.
This Monday, after 17 years of career and being one of the best known personalities of the network, CNN suddenly fired Don Lemon. A dismissal that follows a series of controversies and “out of place” statements by the former host of CNN’s morning show: This Morning.
On his Twitter feed, Lemon expressed shock at what had happened: “I’m stunned,” he said, saying it was his agent who told him he had been fired. CNN said it had “parted ways” with Lemon, while “wishing him well.”
A dismissal that comes just months after Don Lemon got in trouble with CNN after stating on air that Nikki Haley, the governor of South Carolina and Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election, was “not in her prime” (the politician is 51 years old). The comment, made in February, received a wave of criticism on social networks, branding it sexist.
Although he would later issue a statement regretting his “unfair and irrelevant” comments, he stood by his statements on air. Fellow anchors Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins completely disagreed with his words, but Lemon responded by stating that “a woman is considered to be in her prime, in her twenties, thirties and maybe forties. I’m just saying what the facts are – Google them.”
In early April, an article in Variety finally dynamited his public image. It detailed a series of accusations of misogynistic behavior towards his female colleagues at CNN, such as calling a female producer “fat” to her face, doing a mocking imitation of a female colleague and allegedly sending threatening messages to another.
In addition, last fall he was also at the center of a controversy after stating that the U.S. men’s soccer team should be paid more than the women‘s team, since men “are more interesting to watch”.
A dismissal that has occurred almost at the same time as that of Tucker Carlson, the star presenter of the Fox News network and one of the media leaders of the U.S. Republicans. Rupert Murdoch himself, owner of the network, reportedly gave the order for his dismissal.
For the moment, the reasons for Don Lemon’s dismissal by CNN have not been made public. The network issued a second statement in which it described as inaccurate Lemon’s statements, who said on Twitter that “there are bigger issues at stake” and that no one from the management wanted to tell him directly that he had been fired. CNN clarified in its statement that he had indeed been given the opportunity to meet with management to discuss his dismissal.
From now on, This Morning will continue with the show’s co-hosts and former Don Lemon’s partners: Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins.
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