Just when Cockburn feared Don Lemon might be able to salvage the remnants of his career, the former CNN host’s shot of success slipped away. Lemon, who had cut a deal with X to host The Don Lemon Show, announced on Wednesday that Elon Musk had ended their partnership. The news came just hours after the two had sat down for an interview for the upcoming show.
“Elon Musk is mad at me,” Lemon said in a video while sipping his Starbucks latte. “Apparently, free speech absolutism doesn’t apply when it comes to questions about him from people like me.” On Wednesday night, Lemon came crawling back to CNN to spill tea with Erin Burnett and share some tense moments from the interview.
In a clip from his soon-to-be-aired show, Lemon asked Musk if he feels responsible for the rise of hate speech on the platform — perhaps an odd question to ask your new benefactor. A deadpan Musk replied: “I don’t have to answer questions from reporters, Don. The only reason I’m doing this interview is because you’re on the X platform and you asked for it. Otherwise, I would not do this interview.”
Lemon, who apparently couldn’t read the temperature in the room at the time, told Burnett that he felt great after the interview, even if he thought Musk was a nutcase getting his information from right-wing bloggers. He was shocked to receive a notice of the show’s cancellation the day after filming.
According to Musk, Lemon just couldn’t shake the stench of CNN off of himself. “His approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media,’ which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying,” Musk replied to an X user Wednesday. “And, instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity.” Musk said The Don Lemon Show is still welcome to post its content on the platform, even if he is no longer a partner.
Lemon said he expects to be paid for the partnership with X, according to Allison Gollust, a spokesperson for the former CNN host and Zucker’s girlfriend. “Don has a deal with X and expects to be paid for it. If we have to go to court we will,” Gollust said in a statement. According to Axios, however, neither party has signed a contract yet.
In Lemon’s defense, Musk had courted him for months. Musk wrote last year on X encouraging Rachel Maddow, Lemon and other liberal pundits to host their shows on the platform. He later responded to Lemon directly. “Have you considered doing your show on this platform,” Musk asked in May. “Maybe worth a try. Audience is much bigger.”
Musk might be too busy microdosing ketamine, another sore spot brought up in the interview, to be bothered by Lemon’s outrage. As he told Lemon, “I’m criticized constantly. I could care less.”
