Don Lemon was fired again, even before his new show debuted on X.
Elon Musk abruptly canceled “The Don Lemon Show” hours after sitting down for an interview with the CNN anchor that was supposed to be his first broadcast on the platform, Lemon announced Wednesday.
Lemon was taping a meeting with the billionaire owner of X, SpaceX and Tesla on Friday.
“Elon Musk terminated my partnership with Company X,” Lemon said. Statement posted on social media sites.
“The interview he graciously agreed to was open-ended, and my questions were respectful and wide-ranging, covering everything from SpaceX to the presidential election. We had a good conversation. Obviously he felt differently.”
Musk, who was touring a Tesla factory in Germany on Wednesday, had no comment.
The first episode was scheduled to stream on X on Monday. Lemon said he will continue to broadcast on YouTube.
A person familiar with the interview told the Post that Musk was “overwhelmed” after the interview ended and realized “how bad it was.”
“Don was overwhelmed, unprepared and insensitive,” the source said, noting that Lemon did not ask pointed or interesting questions.
“He didn’t ask Musk about[ex-girlfriend]Amber Heard. Elon probably liked that, too,” the source said.
To make matters worse, sources say Lemon was working with a skeleton staff, including his fiancée, rather than the large team the former anchor had at CNN.
“He was unsophisticated. He didn’t have a producer in his ear. Jeff Zucker would come in his ear and repeat everything he was told,” a source said.
Musk hired Lemon in January as part of an effort to bring leftist voices to the site. He was scheduled to record three 30-minute episodes a week before an apparent rift occurred.
In a statement, Lemon accused Musk of reneging on his promise to free speech and “promote more diverse voices on our platform.”
Lemon said Musk had his “full support” and “received Elon and his leadership team’s word…that they are interested in working directly with new and diverse voices.”
“His commitment to a global town square where you can ask any question and share any idea doesn’t seem to include the questions people like me can ask him,” Lemon said. said in a statement.
“X is a platform that champions free speech and is proud to provide an open environment that welcomes diverse opinions and perspectives,” a post on X’s business account said. The Don Lemon Show believes in providing a platform for creators to expand their work, so we welcome them to publish their content without censorship. However, like any company, we reserve the right to make decisions regarding business partnerships, and after careful consideration, X has decided not to enter into a commercial partnership with the show. ”
In another video Lemon posted to X, he said: [to] It goes without saying in interviews that Elon Musk calls himself a free speech absolutist. But apparently the absolutism of free speech doesn’t apply to questions about him from people like me. ”
Kara Swisher, a veteran tech reporter who has been a vocal critic of Musk, wrote on her social media page X that the rift between Lemon and the tech giant was due in part to “questions regarding his use of ketamine.” I wrote.
Lemon appeared to ask Musk about a recent report in the Wall Street Journal that cited sources saying Musk used illegal drugs such as acid, magic mushrooms and ketamine at social events.
Musk, 52, is reportedly taking microdoses of ketamine to treat depression.
Lemon’s deal with X comes just months after Lemon was unceremoniously fired from CNN’s ratings-troubled morning show.
Lemon and CNN parted ways after 17 years at the station. According to reports, executives were dissatisfied with the anchor’s behavior towards colleagues on and off screen.
Lemon took a hiatus last year on CNN This Morning after she said Nikki Haley, who was running for the Republican presidential nomination at the time, was 51 years old and “not in her prime.”
As the Post previously reported, Lemon also had some backstage conflicts with staff and on-air talent, including co-anchor Kaitlyn Collins.
