Don Lemon is speaking out after Elon Musk canceled the two’s partnership on X for Lemon’s new talk show, “The Don Lemon Show.” Lemon shared the news on March 13 and said Musk was “mad” at him.
The former CNN anchor’s new show was scheduled to premiere next week with Musk as the first guest. However, just hours after being interviewed by Lemon on March 8, the X owner canceled the duo’s partnership, and the journalist called Musk out for being a hypocrite for claiming to be about “free speech.”
Lemon posted a video as well as a written post that announced the end of his partnership with X. Lemon was fired from CNN last year after 17 years at the network, but his new show on X was to be his comeback.
In the video, Lemon began by saying, “Hi Everyone. Elon Musk is mad at me, and I just put out a statement about what happened between him, me and the interview he is apparently so upset about.”
“But make no mistake about this,” he continued. “This is going to be my first episode of ‘The Don Lemon Show’ this coming Monday, March 18. So make sure you tune in. This does not change anything about the show except for my relationship with Elon and X.”
Lemon added that his show would still make its debut on YouTube. “There’s a whole lot that went down, and I’m gonna tell you about it in the coming days,” he explained. The 58-year-old went on to mention that he knew many weren’t pleased that he accepted Musk’s invitation to partner with X, but he felt that because Musk was a “free speech” advocate, he believed having his show on the platform would give him “the best possible chance” for his work to reach the largest audience.
“So, speaking of free speech, right, I thought the first person to interview, no-brainer, Elon Musk, the man who calls himself a free speech absolutist,” said Lemon. “I asked him to do it, he willingly agreed to the interview. Throughout our conversation, I kept reiterating to him that although it was tense at times, I thought it was good for people to see and hear our exchange, and that they would learn from our conversation.”
“But apparently, free speech absolutism doesn’t apply when it comes to questions about him from people like me,” Lemon continued. “What did we talk about? Why is he so upset? Does he even have a reason to be upset? Make sure you watch it on Monday on YouTube and everywhere you listen to podcasts, and you can decide for yourself.”
Lemon also shared a lengthy statement on Instagram and said that Musk had canceled their partnership just “hours after an interview I conducted with him.”
“Elon Musk has canceled the partnership I had with X, which they announced as part of their public commitment to amplifying more diverse voices on their platform,” wrote Lemon. “He informed me of his decision hours after an interview I conducted with him on Friday. That interview will remain the premiere episode of The Don Lemon Show on Monday. March 18.”
X released a statement as well noting the ending of Lemon’s partnership with the platform.
“‘The Don Lemon Show’ is welcome to publish its content on X, without censorship, as we believe in providing a platform for creators to scale their work and connect with new communities. However, like any enterprise, we reserve the right to make decisions about our business partnerships, and after careful consideration, X decided not to enter into a commercial partnership with the show.”
Musk also responded on the same platform and claimed that Lemon was to blame for the end of their partnership because of his CNN-like approach.
“His approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media’, which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying,” wrote Musk. “And, instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity. All this said, Lemon/Zucker are of course welcome to build their viewership on this platform along with everyone else.”
Musk is known for his far right-wing views and has complained about what he called the left’s “woke ideology” on X. Fans reacted to the news on social media with mixed reactions.
“Not surprised at all. He keeps showing the world who he is which is not for us in any capacity whatsoever that promotes everything he is against,” replied one fan. “You dodged a bullet man, seriously. Blessing in disguise,” added another. “I can’t believe you thought a Trump-loving billionaire would commit to free speech,” noted a third.
Another fan added, “You mean the Grand Wizard of X didn’t want you speaking truth to power on his platform? Yep, that tracks.”
A teaser clip from their sitdown episode has been circulating online which shows Lemon asking Musk if he or the platform he owns feels a responsibility to monitor the “hate speech online.”
“I don’t have to answer questions from reporters,” he replied. “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 it.”
“The Don Lemon Show” will debut on March 18 on YouTube, where you catch the full episode.
