A comedian recalled a difficult part of CNN's past Tuesday night when he was approached by New Year's Eve hosts Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen to perform.
“Oh, no. No. The last black man on this network to drink was fired,” said Roy Wood Jr., known for his appearance on “The Daily Show.” “I'll keep it in water for now. It needs stability.”
Wood appears to be referring to former host Don Lemon, who appeared on the station's New Year's special during the run and was drinking during the interview. But fellow Times Square guests Michael Ian Black and Amber Ruffin didn't turn down the offer of a shot.
Wood, along with Black and Ruffin, co-hosts CNN's Saturday comedy quiz show “Have I Got News for You.”
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Comedian Roy Wood Jr. (ABC)
Lemon was fired by CNN in 2023 after a series of controversies and struggles with its new AM show, CNN This Morning.
The left-leaning host was ousted from prime-time and became part of a three-person morning show hosting team revamped by then-CEO Chris Licht, but the show never got off the ground.
Lemon remembers back in 2023 when he suggested that then-51-year-old Nikki Haley was no longer in her “prime”, infuriating colleagues at the network. At the time, Haley spoke presciently about concerns about President Biden's age, but Biden was forced by members of his own party to withdraw from the race a year later.
Lemon lasted another two months until Richt dropped him. Richt himself was shown the door in June of that year.
Recently made lemon media headlines He launched a fierce attack on Donald Trump's supporters amid divisions within some of his base over H-1B visas.
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Don Lemon recently went on a rant against Donald Trump supporters. (Photo by: Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Congressional Black Caucus Foundation | Photo by: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
“You're being scammed because you're in a bad cult, and you don't even realize it because you have a stupid MAGA brain and don't understand it,” he said. “How stupid and stupid are you?”
He stood by his comments on his YouTube show on Tuesday, calling his criticism “upsetting.”
“I'm not talking about all Trump supporters,” Lemon said. “I'm talking about MAGA-brained people who will say and do anything to excuse everything that Donald Trump does, every bad thing that the MAGA movement does.”
He continued, “Yeah, I stand by my word! And if you don't like what I said, that's so bad, I don't care!”
Lemon also accused Trump supporters of the “hypocrisy” of defending a “cult leader” while attacking Trump for his language.
“Here's what's messed up about you: You have higher expectations of me, an independent journalist and former cable news host, than you do of the person sitting in the Oval Office, because his mouth is higher than mine. Because it’s bad,” Lemon said.
Last month, Lemon also attacked Time magazine for electing Trump president. person of the yearcalls that choice a “joke.”
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Former CNN host Don Lemon appeared on MSNBC last year. (Screenshot/MSNBC)
“If they wanted to make someone person of the year, I don't know, anyone could have done it. Really representative of democracy, representative of democracy in this country. You could have done that to someone.” lemon said.
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Fox News Digital's Kendall Tietz, Brian Flood and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.
