On-screen gaffes? Sexist comments? In his 17 years with CNN,
Don Lemon didn't just report the headlines— he made them.
Over a decades-long career, Don Lemon demonstrated both charm and controversy. After joining CNN in
2006, he was prominently featured as an anchor on several different shows and was associated with
some major stories. His public profile rose after he publicly came out as gay in 2011,
and again when he became both a critic and a target of former president Donald Trump.
At the same time, Lemon's style of journalism and a host of gaffes both
real and perceived made him a figure of fun online. More substantial controversies came
about through his remarks to a sexual abuse victim during an interview,
and comments made about the Black community. Behind the scenes at CNN,
Lemon allegedly alienated coworkers through a diva attitude and misogynistic comments, but his cozy
relationship with management kept him from getting into trouble. His April 2023 dismissal from the
network came after his short tenure as a morning show host generated a run of negative headlines.
"This is CNN tonight. I'm Don Lemon."
To judge solely on Donald Trump's angry tirades against Don Lemon during his administration,
someone might assume that the former CNN anchor was a Democrat. But Lemon's
politics have varied considerably throughout his life. In an interview with GQ in 2015,
he said that he was a registered Republican in college and had voted for Ronald Reagan.
Decades later, Lemon was an independent who voted for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012.
Lemon said that the Reagan administration's handling of the 1980s AIDS crisis turned him
off from the Gipper. But some of Lemon's stated values and positions have led others to still
describe him as conservative. Lemon rejects that label but denies being a liberal too. As a Black,
gay man, he belongs to two demographics often counted as reliable Democrats,
but he's been outspoken about his independence. He told GQ,
"I think I have values that are important and realistic.
And […] I thought out what my values should be."
Lemon's frustration with political labels extends to the political parties themselves. Though he
regularly votes in elections, he's complained on air about the restrictive nature of the
two-party system and the pressure it exerts to generate lockstep voting behind candidates.
Don Lemon has been a popular anchor in his time, though not always for the reasons a journalist
might wish. A profile on him by GQ led with a description of his more embarrassing moments
at CNN. Anchors working on cable news networks are in a medium that can lend itself to easy
soundbites over nuanced discussion. Tripping over your words is inevitable sooner or later,
and Lemon's online critics have taken delight in chronicling his gaffes.
Lemon first became a target of widespread online criticism for a more serious matter. In 2013,
against the background of the George Zimmerman trial, he expressed sympathy for conservative
commentator Bill O'Reilly's assessment of the Black community and offered his
own harsh challenge and prescriptions. The rebuke he faced didn't dim his star at CNN,
but it did seem to put a target on his back as far as the web was concerned.
Some of the criticism of Lemon wasn't entirely accurate. Over the years, Lemon was said to have
interviewed a llama, took it for granted that Ferguson would smell of marijuana, and supposedly
speculated that a black hole could have swallowed up Malaysian Flight 370. None of those incidents
were as silly as they sounded after being passed around online. He interviewed a llama handler,
and the black hole question was submitted by a viewer and dismissed by Lemon as ridiculous.
"This llama's famous. Pierre is famous."
"He is."
"Why?" In 2021, Don Lemon found
himself caught up in the Jussie Smollett case. Smollett was accused of faking an assault in 2019,
and while initially acquitted, he faced subsequent charges in 2020 leading to a new trial. Lemon and
Smollett knew each other and maintained contact during the trial, something Lemon admitted on air
while covering developments in the case. While acknowledging the falsehoods spread by Smollett,
Lemon maintained that he deserved to be assumed innocent until proven guilty.
In his testimony, Smollett testified that he was first made aware that Chicago police didn't
believe the story behind his assault from a text sent by Lemon. The anchor hadn't disclosed that
particular point of contact, nor had he turned over his phone records to investigators. Though
there was no legal prohibition against Lemon discussing this with Smollett,
it was seen by many as a breach of journalistic ethics. Journalists aren't supposed to get
involved in the stories they are covering. There were calls for Lemon to be fired,
with the situation compared to Chris Cuomo's dismissal after his involvement with his brother
Andrew's controversies. Cuomo's own lawyers made the comparison in arbitration with CNN.
No professional consequences befell Lemon for his texts,
which were only referred to in Smollett's testimony. For Smollett,
the trial ended in a conviction, a brief jail stint, and a $145,000 fine.
CNN may advertise itself as the most trusted name in the news,
but the network has faced regular criticism for its coverage. It was a regular target
for Jon Stewart during his run on The Daily Show. Stewart highlighted the unseriousness
of CNN with a segment titled "CNN anchor Don Lemon appears not to care for CNN." In it,
Lemon struggled to keep a straight face and made sardonic asides while
reporting a story about how much it would theoretically cost to attend Hogwarts.
"OK, I say it costs zero because it doesn't exist."
In an interview with Creative Loafing, Lemon directly voiced some of his issues with cable
news, particularly the gaudy production elements around news shows. He told the publication,
"It reminds me of a game show. If I want to watch
'The Price is Right,' I'll watch 'The Price is Right.'"
While not explicitly naming his own network, Lemon did seem to
hit on issues with CNN. When asked if he was expected to reflect a preset type,
comparable to a reliably liberal or conservative commentator from
other networks, Lemon grew uncomfortable with the thought of such a fixed label.
At other times, Lemon has been more defensive of
CNN. In an interview with Stewart's colleague Stephen Colbert, he stood
up for new CEO Chris Licht's strategy of pursuing moderate Republican voices.
Don Lemon has said that he knew he was a gay man since childhood, and he made no secret of
it among colleagues. But Lemon did not discuss his sexuality on air, or in any public forum. He
was advised not to by his management team and by trusted mentors, for fear it could
cost him his career in an era when only two news anchors with a national platform were openly gay.
Though he thinks he would have come out eventually, Lemon told Pink News that he
was moved to share his sexuality after the suicide of Tyler Clementi. Clementi
was a student at Rutgers University who died after he was reportedly filmed in
an intimate situation with another man by his classmates. Lemon told Pink News,
"I don't want there to be any more Tyler Clementis."
He had long resisted writing a book about his life, but after encountering Clementi's story,
decided that discussing his upbringing and acknowledging his own sexuality
could be beneficial to other vulnerable youth.
"And I got to that one part, and I said,
you know what? If I'm going to be honest, then I have to be honest."
The memoir, Transparent, was dedicated to Clementi.
On August 11, 2019, Don Lemon became the target of a lawsuit. According to Deadline,
a man named Dustin Hice alleged that, the year prior, he had been sexually harassed
by Lemon in a bar in Sag Harbor, New York. He reportedly attempted to extract $1.5 million
from the anchor to avoid the suit, and before erasing his social media presence
posted quotes of then-president Donald Trump criticizing Lemon's employer, CNN.
The network was quick to deny the incident, and Lemon offered no immediate comment. His
lawyer characterized the suit as a malicious cash grab with no basis in fact. While the lawsuit was
seized upon by some critics of Lemon, Hice's case was complicated by his own actions. In March 2022,
he was fined $77,000, to be paid to Lemon, after a judge determined that Hice had attempted to
bribe witnesses and interfere with potential evidence. By that May, the suit was finished.
Early in Don Lemon's tenure at CNN, he was paired with Kyra Phillips on the "Live From" block based
out of Atlanta. Phillips was an established presence on the network, and the team was close.
According to a lengthy investigation by Variety, Lemon's behavior upon joining the team alienated
and disturbed his co-workers. He was said to be openly resentful of Phillips being given plum
assignments, and he reportedly tore up notes and personal items on her desk. Producers allegedly
had to speak to Lemon during commercials more than once. And threatening text messages sent
to Phillips, Variety claimed, were traced back to Lemon. He denied the charge through a CNN
spokesperson, but shortly after the incident, he was demoted from "Live From" to a weekend slot.
Years later, Lemon was made co-host of a morning show with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins. A
series of comments taken as misogynistic invited criticism, and Harlow allegedly left the set
in frustration after one such incident. But tabloid reports painted an even more
dramatic and contentious atmosphere, with Lemon raging at Collins for supposedly interrupting
him during a December 8, 2022 broadcast. Lemon and Collins offered no comment on the story,
and when Lemon was fired from CNN, Collins and Harlow wished him well on air.
"We wish him the best."
The run of negative headlines ahead of Don Lemon's dismissal from CNN began in February 2023, when
he described Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, 51, as, quote, "past her prime."
While meant as a challenge to Haley's demand for competency testing on older politicians,
the comments were widely taken as sexist, and Lemon was briefly suspended and told to
go through sensitivity training. It was in the wake of those comments that Variety published
a lengthy piece on Lemon that suggested he had a history of misogynistic statements and behaviors.
Past conflicts with his 2008 co-host Kyra Phillips were rehashed, as were
claims he disrespected other female anchors. Lemon was said to have insulted producers,
gotten female critics blacklisted from appearing on CNN, and alienated himself
from former friends with a diva-like attitude. His on-air comments over the years included a
claim that men's soccer players earned more money than women by being more popular,
and he allegedly asked inappropriate questions of one survivor of Bill Cosby's sexual abuse.