Former CNN host Don Lemon recently had his show on X canceled before it could even debut. Reportedly, Elon Musk canceled “The Don Lemon Show” just hours after sitting down with Lemon for an interview that would have served as the first episode.
Lemon posted an announcement on X regarding the cancellation of his show. “Elon Musk has canceled the partnership I had with X, which they announced as part of their public commitment to amplifying more diverse voices on their platform. He informed me of his decision hours after an interview I conducted with him on Friday. That interview will remain the premiere episode of The Don Lemon Show on Monday, March 18,” the statement read.
Lemon further detailed the interaction in the restriction-free interview, where the former CNN host claimed he maintained appropriate decorum. While Lemon expressed positive sentiment about the discussion with the multi-company billionaire CEO, he explained that Musk evidently walked away with a different experience.
“There were no restrictions on the interview that he willingly agreed to, and my questions were respectful and wide ranging, covering everything from Space to the presidential election. We had a good conversation. Clearly he felt differently. His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me,” Lemon’s announcement continued.
However, Musk responded to Lemon’s statement by providing his side of the story, where he felt Lemon lacked “authenticity.” Musk said, “His approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media,’ which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying.” He added, “And, instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity. All this said, Lemon/Zucker are of course welcome to build their viewership on this platform along with everyone else.”
Don Lemon released a subsequent video response providing additional details about the scrapped partnership with Musk and his social media platform. He maintained that this would not deter the release of his show, which would still be released this month.
“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 18,” he said.
“There’s a whole lot that went down and I’m going to tell you about in the coming days. 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 at this was the best possible chance for the work that I’m doing to reach the largest amount of people,” Lemon added.
See Don Lemon’s full video response to the controversy below:
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