After 17 years at CNN, including a run as a prime time host for eight years, Don Lemon was fired last year, reportedly after failing to improve the ratings at his new assignment on CNN’s early morning show. He had also made more than a few controversial on-air statements that may have hastened his separation from CNN, including a series of curious comments in February 2023 as he dissed Republican candidate for president Nikki Haley as being too old and past her prime at age 52.
During a discussion of Haley’s candidacy with his CNN morning show co-hosts Poppy Harlow (who has since left CNN) and Kaitlan Collins (who has been promoted to her own prime time show), Lemon said that Haley had no right to criticize Donald Trump’s age since she — Haley — was already over the hill herself.
Citing Google as a source, Lemon said it’s an established fact that women are in their prime only when they are in their 20s and 30s, and in some cases their 40s. Haley, who had just turned 52 when Lemon made his comments, was already over the hill, Lemon implied.
Well, lo and behold then, it was curious to say the least when Lemon emerged from obscurity this week to insist during an appearance on a “Black Men for Harris” virtual video meeting that he is an enthusiastic supporter of Kamala Harris for president — apparently even though VP Harris will be 60 on October 20.
Writing at Fox News.com on Wednesday, Brian Flood took aim at Lemon’s comments by establishing some important context:
Don Lemon, who spent years bashing former President Trump on CNN before he was fired last year, celebrated being free from ‘corporate overlords’ so he can formally support Vice President Kamala Harris in November’s election.
Lemon never appeared to hide his feelings on CNN, where he compared Trump supporters to Ku Klux Klan members, laughed as a guest referred to Trump’s base as the ‘credulous boomer rube demo’ and regularly slammed the former president. But Lemon told the ‘Black Men for Harris’ virtual meeting that he is now free to admit his loyalties.
‘I’m happy to be in an independent space where I don’t have to worry about corporate overlords now, where I can stand up for democracy, where I can say who I’m supporting. I’m on the side of democracy,’ Lemon said on the virtual meeting.
Flood reminded readers about Lemon’s high profile role at CNN, and wondered why his numerous comments on CNN criticizing Donald Trump apparently did not earn the disapproval of his “corporate overlords.”
Lemon was a key figure in the network’s Trump-era transition from a just-the-facts news network to partisan opinion programming.
Lemon compared Trump and Adolf Hitler in 2019 while arguing that such ‘bad people’ shouldn't be given a platform. In 2020, Lemon accused then-President Trump of letting former President Obama get under his skin because he is ‘better looking,’ ‘better educated,’ and has a ‘more accomplished’ wife, in a segment that quickly went viral.
Lemon declared in 2021, ‘If you voted for Trump, you voted for the person who the Klan supported. You voted for the person who Nazis support.’
Don Lemon at Redlight Traffic’s inaugural Dignity Gala October 19, 2013 (Photo by Michelle Tiu / Neon Tommy, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Flickr, cropped)
Back to February 2023, when he was co-hosting the soon to fail and be canceled show CNN This Morning, here is one account of Lemon’s opinion about women politicos who he said were past their prime. As Forbes reported the story on February 17, 2023:
CNN anchor Don Lemon caused a stir on CNN This Morning when he suggested GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley was no longer in her ‘prime.’ Haley is 51. Research indicates that Lemon is mostly wrong. . .
The CNN anchors were discussing Haley’s call for mental competency tests for older politicians. ‘This whole talk about age makes me uncomfortable,’ Lemon said during the show Thursday. ‘I think it’s the wrong road to go down. She says people, you know, politicians are suddenly not in their prime. Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime. Sorry, when a woman is considered to be in her prime, is in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.’
One research study published in Psychology of Women Quarterly found that the 50s is a woman’s prime of life, indicating that Haley is indeed in her prime. Better health, empty nests and higher income distinguished the 50s from the earlier and later periods of life for women. Women in their 50s also showed greater confidence, involvement and breadth of personality.
One wonders what Lemon was Googling before he commented about Nikki Haley. A related question is, Has he modified his opinion on women who peak before they are past their 40s now that his sister-in-arms, Kamala Harris, is running for president?
Inquiring minds want to know!
Meanwhile, in another bid that may put him back in the public’s awareness for another 15 minutes, it was reported widely just yesterday that Don Lemon is suing Elon Musk for $35 million for fraud for allegedly reneging on a deal to give Lemon a prominent spot on X/twitter to espouse his leftist views.
Lemon appears to be at no loss for money. Last February, it was reported that Lemon was paid off $24.5 million by CNN after he was separated from the channel in 2023.
CNN staffers reacted furiously yesterday [February 26, 2024] to reports that former anchor Don Lemon would be getting $24.5 million from the network — despite being fired in disgrace.
‘I can’t believe we just paid Don Lemon all this money,’ said one exasperated insider. ‘They just wiped out the morning show team and they are paying him $25 million!’
Peter Barry Chowka has been reporting on national elections since 1964, starting in high school. Later, he reported from several national political conventions and traveled around the country with presidential candidates. Peter is a frequent invited guest on the BBC, the largest broadcaster in the world (his July 27 appearance is here). He has been a frequent contributor to American Thinker since 2007.