Don Lemon’s return to the public eye will no longer take place on X after platform owner Elon Musk nixed his new show, the former CNN host said Wednesday.
“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 the platform, ” the 58-year-old TV personality posted.
According to Lemon, he was informed of Musk’s decision after interviewing the billionaire entrepreneur last Friday for the debut episode of “The Don Lemon Show.” Lemon said Musk and his team promised their support for his program, which he hoped would reach a massive audience.
“I took Elon and his management team’s word that they, for the first time, were interested in working directly with new and diverse voices,” Lemon wrote. “His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and ideas can be shared seems not to include people like me.”
Musk has given considerable support to sometimes bigoted right-wing conspiracy theories and the people who promote them since purchasing Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022 and later changing its name to X. In June, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson launched a program on X that has enjoyed the South African entrepreneur’s backing.
Musk also restored the suspended account of far-right propagandist Alex Jones toward the end of 2023.
Lemon, by contrast, tends to gravitate toward more liberal sensibilities, with some exceptions. He fell largely out of favor with CNN in early 2023 after claiming former presidential candidate Nikki Haley was past her “prime” at the age of 51.
The Brooklyn College alumnus was “stunned” when CNN cut ties with him in April.
Lemon followed his Wednesday announcement with a video promising further details about his falling out with “mad at me” Musk when his new program airs next week. “The Don Lemon Show” is now scheduled to premiere Monday on YouTube and podcast platforms. He still plans to release the interview on X.
In response to a Mark Zuckerberg parody account asking the reason for the cancellation, Musk said Lemon’s “approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media,’ which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying,” while also claiming Lemon “lacked authenticity.”
X Business meanwhile tweeted that “like any enterprise, we reserve the right to make decisions about our business partnerships, and after careful consideration, X decided not to enter into a commercial partnership with the show.”
However, they added that “The Don Lemon Show” is free to continue publishing its content on the platform “without censorship.”
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Source: Orange County Register
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