(Headline USA) Don Lemon revealed on Monday that he has been fired from CNN, saying he was “stunned.”
“I was informed this morning by my agent that I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned,” he wrote in a post on Twitter. “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.
“It is clear there are some larger issues at play,” Lemon added.
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) April 24, 2023
Shortly after Lemon’s announcement, CNN released its own statement contradicting Lemon’s version of events.
“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 network said.
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.
— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) April 24, 2023
The news that Lemon had been fired came just hours after he had appeared on the network’s morning show, of which he was a co-host. It also followed months of back-and-forth drama within the network involving Lemon.
Last month, Lemon was temporarily suspended from the air after he made inappropriate comments about GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, claiming that she is no longer “in her prime.”
“A woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s,” he said.
At the same time, Variety published an in-depth report detailing allegations of harassment and misogyny against Lemon.
In one example cited by Variety, Lemon reportedly grew frustrated with Phillips after she was given an assignment to cover the aftermath of the Iraq invasion in 2008. He was so jealous of Phillips’s assignment that he ripped up pictures of her and left them on her desk, two sources said. She later received a threatening text message that CNN executives allegedly later traced back to Lemon.
