Don Lemon attends The fifteenth Annual CNN Heroes: All-Star Tribute at American Museum of Pure Historical past on December 12, 2021 in New York Metropolis.
Mike Coppola | Getty Pictures Leisure | Getty Pictures
Former CNN anchor Don Lemon announced Wednesday that X proprietor Elon Musk has canceled a partnership wherein Lemon would host a brand new present on the social community.
Lemon stated he was knowledgeable of the choice to cancel the deal simply hours after he taped an interview with Musk for the premiere of The Don Lemon Present on March 18.
“We had a very good dialog. Clearly he felt otherwise,” Lemon stated of the interview in an announcement Wednesday. “His dedication to a worldwide city sq. the place all questions could be requested and all concepts could be shared appears to not embrace questions of him from folks like me.”
“There have been no restrictions on the interview that he willingly agreed to, and my questions had been respectful and vast ranging, protecting every thing from SpaceX to the presidential election,” Lemon’s assertion stated.
Musk claimed in a publish on X Wednesday that “as a substitute of it being the actual Don Lemon, it was actually simply Jeff Zucker speaking by way of Don, so lacked authenticity. All this stated, Lemon/Zucker are after all welcome to construct their viewership on this platform together with everybody else.” Zucker is the previous president of CNN.
Musk has referred to as himself a First Modification and free speech advocate for years. When he took over Twitter, he reinstated accounts that had been completely suspended beneath prior administration, together with that of former President Donald Trump. On the similar time, he has demonstrated little tolerance for his workers’ free speech and has banned or suspended a number of critics on X since taking up the corporate.
Lemon stated his present would proceed regardless of the deal’s cancellation. The interview with Musk will likely be posted on YouTube, podcast platforms and can nonetheless be printed on X, Lemon stated.
“The Don Lemon Present is welcome to publish its content material on X, with out censorship, as we imagine in offering a platform for creators to scale their work and join with new communities,” the company account for X said in a statement on the positioning. “Nevertheless, like all enterprise, we reserve the precise to make selections about our enterprise partnerships, and after cautious consideration, X determined to not enter right into a business partnership with the present.”
X introduced in January that Don Lemon would host a present on the platform, along with applications by former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and sports activities commentator Jim Rome. Lemon was fired from CNN final 12 months following sexist on-air feedback and experiences he mistreated coworkers.
CNBC reached out to Elon Musk, considered one of his attorneys, Alex Spiro, and Twitter individually. It stays unclear what, if any, contract had been organized and what the phrases of any partnership had been between X and The Don Lemon Present.
CNBC’s Lora Kolodny contributed to this report.
