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Don Lemon's Bad Behavior and 'Idiotic' Comments at CNN Reportedly Go Back Years

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | April 5, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | April 5, 2023 |


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My favorite quote in Tatiana Siegel’s profile at Variety on Don Lemon’s history of “misogyny” and “diva-like behavior” comes from Soledad O’Brien, who used to work at CNN with Lemon. A jealous Lemon, upset that O’Brien had been chosen to host the docuseries “Black in America,” once suggested that O’Brien “wasn’t Black” in front of about 30 staffers.

“Don has long had a habit of saying idiotic and inaccurate things, so it sounds pretty on brand for him,” O’Brien told Variety.

That is, in fact, the gist of the piece, dating back to Lemon’s early days at CNN, where his first co-anchor, Kyra Phillips, received an anonymous and threatening text reportedly from Lemon that said, “Now you’ve crossed the line, and you’re going to pay for it,” after Phillips got an assignment in Iraq that Lemon coveted. That text led to Lemon being demoted to weekend anchor, and it was the last time he was paired with a female anchor until he began co-hosting CNN’s new morning show last year.

Other revelations from the piece:
— Lemon is a notorious name-dropper.
— He once dated a fresh-out-of-college 22-year-old when Lemon was 41
— He called a female producer fat to her face
— He mocked colleague Nancy Grace on air
— He allegedly banned a Black female consultant for calling him out about his controversial comments on the Black community (“Walking around with your ass and your underwear showing is not OK,” he said, among other things.)

The piece suggests that Lemon has long had an issue with women, although much of the piece is just behind-the-scene shit-talking. Is anyone surprised a well-paid personality is an asshole? His most fireable offenses, honestly, have been public: Tipping off Jussie Smollett and the Nikki Haley comments. This piece probably won’t help his career, but unless someone can definitively tie the Kyra Phillips text message to Lemon, he’s probably safe in his anchor chair for the foreseeable future.

Source: Variety