Last Updated on April 24, 2023
CNN unceremoniously fired longtime news host Don Lemon on Monday morning, just hours after he’d anchored his usual morning broadcast. Lemon had long been praised by those on the left for being openly gay and calling Donald Trump a racist but fell from grace earlier this year when he was accused of on-air sexism.
“I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN,” Lemon wrote in a statement he posted to Twitter early Monday afternoon. “I am stunned,” Lemon wrote.
“After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me 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. It is clear that there are some larger issues at play. With that said, I want to thank my colleagues and the many teams I have worked with for an incredible run. They are the most talented journalists in the business, and I wish them all the best.”
In spite of Lemon’s statement, CNN Communications posted a statement of their own on Twitter, refuting Lemon’s claims and writing that “Don Lemon’s statement about this morning’s events is inaccurate. He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter.”
The firing of Don Lemon comes as the longtime CNN host is embroiled in multiple controversies, including one just last week when he gave a racist on-air lecture to 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.
Prior to that, he was lambasted by his female CNN co-hosts for saying on-air that due to presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s age of 51 years old, she’s past her female physical “prime.”
“Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry,” Lemon said on a CNN broadcast earlier this year. “When a woman is considered to be in her prime — in her 20s, 30s, and maybe her 40s.”
Lemon was long hailed by those on the left for calling President Trump a racist and for being openly gay but experienced a rapid fall from grace after his Nikki Haley comments.
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The firing of Don Lemon comes on the same day Fox News announced it would “part ways” with longtime news host Tucker Carlson, a decision that’s been applauded by left-wing news outlets, including CNN, as well as left-wing NGOs like the ADL.