(Headline USA) CNN’s Don Lemon was notably absent from the network’s morning show panel on Friday following derogatory comments he made about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley.
“Don has the day off,” said co-host Kaitlin Collins at the beginning of Friday’s show before introducing her guest co-host, Audie Cornish.
On Thursday, Lemon commented on Haley’s entrance into the 2024 race, claiming the 51-year-old is “not in her prime.”
“This whole talk about age makes me uncomfortable. I think it’s the wrong road to go down. She says people, you know, politicians or something are not in their prime,” Lemon said. “Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry. A woman is considered to be in their prime in 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.”
He later attempted to apologize — first to his coworkers and boss, and then publicly. Tellingly, he never directly apologized to Haley.
“The people I am closest to in this organization are women,” Lemon said in an email to his coworkers, according to the New York Post. “The people I seek counsel to first in this organization are women. The person I am closest to is my mother, a woman.”
Lemon later tweeted: “The reference I made to a woman’s ‘prime’ this morning was inartful and irrelevant, as colleagues and loved ones have pointed out, and I regret it. A woman’s age doesn’t define her either personally or professionally. I have countless women in my life who prove that every day.”
Lemon’s other co-host, Poppy Harlow, was reportedly furious at Lemon after his comments. Her frustration comes just weeks after Collins and Lemon publicly sparred in front of others on set.
Haley blasted Lemon in response, saying on Friday that “liberals can’t stand the idea of having competency tests for older politicians to make sure they can do the job.”
“BTW it’s always the liberals who are the most sexist,” she said.
