Reactions poured in after the news broke that CNN had ousted longtime anchor Don Lemon after a series of controversies that finally caught up with the “diva-like” host who had one meltdown too many for network brass which pulled the plug, a long overdue move to jettison a toxic personality whose reported misogynist treatment of female colleagues and racist rants had made him a liability.
On Monday morning, the temperamental host threw a hissy fit over his termination, going out swinging on Twitter and playing the victim, a take that was rebutted by the network as “inaccurate” in what is likely the final disagreement between the self-proclaimed “most trusted name in news” and the caustic 57-year-old who was kicked to the curb after 17 years.
“CNN and Don have parted ways,” announced CNN boss Chris Licht. “Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years. We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.”
(Video: The Daily Mail)
With Lemon’s CNN career now over, network insiders are speaking out and not in very flattering terms, saying that he had worn out his welcome with others as a result of his sexist takes, including one in February that former South Carolina governor, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was “past her prime,” a remark that so angered co-host Poppy Harlow that she stormed off the set.
Lemon would end up having to apologize but was on thin ice with management, and the final straw may have been his racist meltdown on another 2024 GOP hopeful, Vivek Ramaswamy who got the best of him during a segment last week which, according to The New York Times, “left several CNN leaders exasperated.
“Don was given every indication when he made the fake a** apology for his disgusting comments and, still, no one wanted anything to do with him,” a source told the Daily Mail. “No one owes him anything. He should have had the decency to not be a misogynistic, sexist POS.”
“Don truly believed he was going to always get a get out of jail free card because he is black and gay, which worked to his advantage until it couldn’t,” the insider said.
“It doesn’t matter what color you are or what your sexuality is. He lost the respect of all of the women on staff, and no one wanted to work with him,” they added. “Even after this, he still acted no differently and would give the women he worked with attitude because he could sense that they felt a certain way still. Good riddance and good luck getting a job elsewhere.”
(Video: NewsBusters)
There were signs that the end of Lemon’s days with the network were rapidly approaching the end, including a brutal expose published by the showbiz website Variety earlier this month detailing the CNN bad boy’s past conduct including making rude remarks about female colleagues as well as bullying behavior, and that he allegedly sent “threatening” text messages to former cohost Kyra Phillips that left her “rattled,” allegations that he vehemently denied.
According to Variety, the “diva-like” Lemon body-shamed a female producer whom he called “fat,” mocked Nancy Grace while on the air, and suggested that Soledad O’Brien wasn’t really black during an editorial call attended by over two dozen staffers in the incidents from the late 2000s.
Don Lemon, CNN deny report accusing 'diva-like' host of bullying, misogyny toward female colleagueshttps://t.co/iXrDpVDOxc
— American Wire News (@americanwire_) April 6, 2023
In what may be the most disturbing allegation, Lemon reportedly threw a snit when in 2008, Phillips was chosen for a high-profile assignment to go to Iraq over him, with his “antipathy” toward his “Live From” weekday show being so “concerning” that it “had many members of the close-knit Atlanta news team on edge,” according to the unnamed sources who dished the dirt to the celebrity news outlet.
The two sources told Variety that Lemon “vented his disappointment at being passed over by tearing up pictures and notes on top of and inside Phillips’ desk in the news pod they shared,” but things took a turn for the worse after she returned from Iraq when Phillips received threatening phone calls made from a burner phone that was traced back to the jealous anchor.
In addition to his menacing of Phillips, Lemon “mocked Grace on air by mimicking her, shocking fellow colleagues,” who were aghast at his behavior. Grace declined to comment but Variety cites a person who is close to her as saying that “she thinks he’s an ass” and that he was always “rude, dismissive and really unfamiliar with the [news] content being discussed.”
Lemon was also miffed that O’Brien was tabbed to host the high-profile docuseries, “Black in America” which debuted in 2008, ranting during a call attended by around 30 people that O’Brien wasn’t black, two witnesses who “found the characterization wildly offensive” recounted. “Don always wanted to be front and center on anything high profile, especially anything involving race,” a colleague told Variety.
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