Actor and staunch conservative voice James Woods excoriated TMZ for its Don Lemon coverage.
TMZ is suddenly terrified for the future of “democracy” after Lemon’s arrest, posting a whole video about it on X.
Watch:
🚨 Don Lemon has been arrested. Could this change democracy forever? pic.twitter.com/fCtSJeGdkk
— TMZ (@TMZ) January 30, 2026
“So the Trump administration wonders why people are saying they are trying to form a dictatorship. Well, look at the landscape,” host Harvey Levin said. “Arresting Don Lemon, who covered a protest in Minneapolis, is just insane, ridiculous, dictator-like. This is the playbook that dictators use to destroy democracies and take the will of the people away. It is as simple as that. The First Amendment is the first amendment for a reason. It is considered the preferred amendment when you have to start balancing what’s more important.”
“The framers of the Constitution knew that a free press was essential to a democracy. Without a free press, you don’t have a democracy. And it’s real clear that Donald Trump and company doesn’t want a free press,” he continued. “The idea that a journalist, which Don Lemon has been for 30 years, would walk into a church and film a demonstration which is of national interest, and then to say, somehow – when you watch the video, they say he is part of the protest. Watch that video, he is covering the protest. He is covering it. That’s what journalists do.”
Woods was not taken in by the pearl-clutching, suggesting the celebrity gossip outlet should stick to its roots.
Your staff cheered when Charlie Kirk was pronounced dead of an assassin’s bullet. No one buys that you’re any more of a “journalist” than Don Lemon is.
Stick with licking celebrity ass. That’s your wheelhouse. https://t.co/lJdoZru7oZ
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 31, 2026
“Your staff cheered when Charlie Kirk was pronounced dead of an assassin’s bullet. No one buys that you’re any more of a “journalist” than Don Lemon is. Stick with licking celebrity ass. That’s your wheelhouse,” he shot back.
X users weighed in:
https://t.co/hcF9u421d0 https://t.co/l5fW6Y5tur
— Skeletor 🧼🧽🫧 (@TheMuppetPastor) January 30, 2026
A press pass doesn’t exempt people from crimes they commit.
— Morgana Le Faye *Patriot *America 1st* 🇺🇸 (@Keltic_Spirit) January 31, 2026
Excuse me? Under Biden-Harris is this the approximate numbers of “journalists’ arrested, detained, or charged:
2021: 59
2022: 10-20
2023: 15
2024: 49PS: You never spoke up once on behalf of these people.
— Tired of being politically correct (@USBornNRaised) January 31, 2026
TMZ gaslighting tells you everything you need to know.
— TEMPLER (@TEMPLERTV) January 30, 2026
Don’t you have to try and figure out if Bieber is getting divorced?
— Daily Roman Updates (@UpdatingOnRome) January 30, 2026
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to write. Marlee also contributes to BizPac Review.
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