Former CNN news anchor Don Lemon is reportedly planning to divulge details about his experience working with the network following his abrupt exit. Lemon announced that he’d been let go from CNN without warning in a post shared on Twitter on April 24.
The devoted journalist has worked for the network from 2006 until 2023 and hosted “Don Lemon Tonight” for eight years. He also co-hosted “CNN This Morning” with Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow after his prime time show was canceled.
Radar Online reports it was told by an unnamed source that Lemon is still upset with how the network he has dedicated years to handled his departure. He reportedly is now threatening to expose CNN executives who “threw him under the bus” in a tell-all book.
The report contends Lemon’s time at the network was nearing an end for at least one year prior to his departure. His prime time show was canceled last fall, and he allegedly was not happy to be co-hosting a failing morning show with Collins and Harlow.
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“Don feels like he’s been a [good soldier] at CNN and that he’s a scapegoat for the failure of the morning show he was forced to co-host with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins,” the source told the outlet. “He’s looking for payback!”
The source said Lemon plans to “reveal where the bodies are buried” and expose his colleagues by shining “a damaging spotlight on execs and anchors whose behavior is WORSE than his.”
The outlet also alleged that an insider claimed Lemon may have breached his contract by announcing his departure before a joint statement was released and that it could affect his contract payout.
Lemon said he was “stunned” to learn he was being terminated from CNN by his agent on April 24.
“After 17 years at CNN I would have thought that someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly,” he wrote in a post on Twitter at the time. “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. It is clear that there are some larger issues at play.”
Reports say Lemon signed a $25 million contract in September with CNN but now has hired an attorney after the network publicly disputed claims that he had been terminated without warning. The company claims the 57-year-old had been offered a chance to meet with his superiors but he chose to air his frustrations on social media instead.
“Don Lemon’s statement about this morning’s events is inaccurate. He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter.”
The New York Times reported that Lemon’s remarks about 51-year-old Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley not being “in her prime” and an on-air exchange with another Republican presidential candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, that turned into a heated debate about Black history, helped seal his fate at the network.
