Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy took a bow after reports that he was largely responsible for CNN’s bringing down the curtain on the career of its emotionally volatile anchor Don Lemon over an exchange between the two on “CNN This Morning” last Wednesday that convinced network brass to jettison their longtime problem child.
Ramaswamy, an author and biotech entrepreneur dubbed the “CEO of Anti-Woke Inc.” discussed Lemon’s long overdue ouster with Megyn Kelly on Tuesday’s edition of “The Megyn Kelly Show” on SiriusXM where he acknowledged his contribution to cleaning up the airwaves, calling it a “net positive” and expressing an optimistic view on how the self-proclaimed “most trusted name in news” can move forward after what was essentially an act of addition by subtraction.
(Video: YouTube)
The racist meltdown by Lemon, in which he told Ramaswamy – who is of Indian-American heritage – that “When you have black skin and you live in this country, then you can disagree with me,” an incident that “left several CNN leaders exasperated,” according to The New York Times, and days later, the mercurial host was informed that he was no longer welcome after 17 years on the job.
After rolling video clips of the fateful segment during which she called Lemon’s behavior “really offensive,” Kelly asked her guest how he felt about being a part of history.
“The reason I go through that exercise, Vivek is there are several reports out today that that was the last straw for CNN management,” she said. “So what do you make of the fact that you may have had a role in CNN’s ultimate decision to get rid of him?”
“I think I did,” Ramaswamy responded. “And I think that that’s a net positive. Look, I actually wanna be really clear about this. It all comes down to what the mission of your organization is. If CNN’s mission is to advance a woke progressive orthodoxy, Don Lemon is a perfectly fine host to have on air, to cut off guests, to tell people they can’t speak based on the color of their skin, because that does represent a worldview that exists in the country.”
Ramaswamy also talked about new CNN boss Chris Licht wanting to feature more diverse voices on the cable news network, a part of an ongoing overhaul of the ratings-challenged outlet since he took over for disgraced former network chief Jeff Zucker last year.
“If he means what he says and it sounds like he does, that they wanna be — move towards being a more open platform for diverse views, then I don’t think that type of host actually makes sense in that organization,” he said.
“It’s not just about cancel culture in the other direction and saying that, ‘Hey Don Lemon, it’s a good thing he’s fired.’ The question is — what’s your purpose as an organization?” Ramaswamy added. “And if CNN’s purpose is to air multiple different perspectives on air, then I think that you can’t have TV hosts who tell guests, whoever they are, that they can’t speak or express an idea about post-Civil War reconstruction history in America without thinking about what their skin color or race is first.”
Lemon doesn’t appear to be slinking off to lick his wounds with reports that he plans to lawyer up to sue CNN, with it being highly likely that it will be over alleged discrimination after he found out that being black and gay wasn’t a”get out of jail free card,” after all as one CNN insider with insight into his thought process suggested that he believed it was.
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