Don Lemon announced in a statement on Monday that he had been fired from CNN, a move that honestly, has been a long, long time in the making. This news comes on the same day that Fox News Network announced they would be ending their relationship with their biggest named on-air talent, Tucker Carlson. A lot of shakeups happening the world of major media today, ladies and gentlemen.
“I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN,” Lemon revealed in his statement, according to the Daily Wire . “I am stunned. After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly.”
“At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network,” he added in the statement. “It is clear that there are some larger issues at play. With that said, I want to thank my colleagues and the many teams I have worked with for an incredible run.”
“They are the most talented journalists in the business, and I wish them all the best,” he continued.
Lemon’s firing comes after the company’s new CEO Chris Licht stated, on more than one occasion, that he wanted to change the overall direction of the network and help to restore some of its credibility by toning down some of the hardcore leftist rhetoric spewed by the vast majority of the company’s talking heads.
The now former CNN host landed himself in hot water earlier this year when he got into a bit of a tangle with two of his female co-hosts who he worked with on “CNN This Morning.” He also received a lashing for daring to say that Nikki Haley, 51, was “past her prime.” Meanwhile, he has nothing but glowing praise for a president who is in his 80s and continually looks like he has no clue what planet he’s on.
Variety issued a report stating that Lemon has faced a series of allegations concerning his negative treatment of women in the workplace since 2008.
“The first alleged incident began in 2008 when he was hosting CNN’s ‘Live From’ with Kyra Phillips. Tensions between the two had increased ‘for months’ before reaching a boiling point when Phillips got an assignment that Lemon wanted,” the Daily Wire said.
The host “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,” the report revealed.
The report then stated that after she came back from the assignment, Phillips got a text message from an anonymous number saying, “Now you’ve crossed the line, and you’re going to pay for it.” The messages were later traced back to Lemon.
Lemon also is alleged to have called one of the female producers for the network fat, right to her face. He then mocked former CNN anchor Nancy Grace, while on air, which did not sit well with some folks working at the network.
“Lemon also reportedly had issues with then-CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien after she was named as host of the network’s ‘Black in America’ docuseries. Lemon reportedly said during an editorial call that she was not black,” the Daily Wire stated.
O’Brien, then went on to tell Variety that, “Don has long had a habit of saying idiotic and inaccurate things, so it sounds pretty on brand for him.”
The publication also stated that several of Lemon’s colleagues complained that he annoyed them with “diva-like behavior.”
“One woman that CNN spoke to complained that the network quit putting her on air after she criticized Lemon while another woman claimed that Lemon changed over time into someone who ‘likes fame, likes power. He was no longer the same person,’” the Daily Wire concluded.
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