It has been a bumpy year for Don Lemon. After a wave of sexist comments about politician Nikki Haley, among others, put the anchor's future at CNN in jeopardy, Lemon was officially fired from the news network in April 2023 after nearly two decades as one of the channel's most high-profile personalities. (The media pundit has since gone on to claim that those misconduct allegations weren't the real reason for his dismissal.) Now, he has another issue on his hands as his X show has been canceled by Elon Musk.
For some context, after rumors of exactly how Lemon would professionally move on from the CNN firing (remember that time we all really thought he would be joining The View?) spread, word hit that he had scored a contract with tech billionaire Elon Musk to start a new show on X. However, it looks like both that contract for The Don Lemon Show and the content partnership with Musk are kaput, as the former CNN host revealed on social media on Wednesday, March 13.
In a video posted to his Twitter, the 57-year-old journalist seemed to insinuate that Musk terminated the deal following an interview between the two men, which was planned to air during the first edition of The Don Lemon Show on X on Monday, March 18. Lemon said:
Hi everyone! Elon Musk is mad at me, and I just put out a statement about what happened between him, me and the interview that he is apparently so upset about. But make no mistake about this: this is going to be my first episode of 'The Don Lemon Show' this coming Monday, March 18th, so make sure you tune in. This does not change anything about the show except for my relationship with Elon and X. And there's a whole lot that went down and I'm going to tell you about in the coming days.
Lemon continued to discuss his reasonings for why he initially decided to collaborate with a controversial figure like Elon Musk, much to the chagrin of the anchor's loyal fans. Around the same time Lemon's show pick-up, it was announced that X would also be supporting content from former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and sports commentator Jim Rome, along with a show hosted by former Fox News-er Tucker Carlson.
Continuing to speak about his decision, the former CNN anchor said:
I know though that many of you were not happy that I was doing this in the first place and you told me so. I just want you to know that I did this deal because not only do I believe in free speech, but I believed that this was the best possible chance for the work that I'm doing to reach the largest amount of people.
However, despite previously believing that Musk was a "free speech absolutist," Lemon alleged that the tech boss wasn't pleased by his line of questioning during the interview:
I thought the first interview, no brainer, Elon Musk, the man who calls himself a free speech absolutist. I asked him to do it, he willingly agreed to the interview. Throughout our conversation, I kept reiterating to him that although it was tense at times, I thought it was good for people to see and hear our exchange and that they would learn from our conversation, learn more about him, learn more about me. But apparently free speech absolutism doesn't apply when it comes to questions about him from people like me.
It's not the first time Elon Musk has canceled a planned business partnership last minute. Per The Hill, the X mogul said in a statement that, while Lemon's show is "welcome to build their viewership on this platform along with everyone else," he was displeased with its approach, which was "basically just ‘CNN, but on social media’, which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying."
Despite no longer being backed by Musk, The Don Lemon Show will reportedly move forward with its debut episode on March 18, which will include the tense interview with Elon.
