A serene Don Lemon on Wednesday night returned to CNN — the network he was ousted from last yr — to debate Elon Musk abruptly firing him from his subsequent gig on X just hours after the 2 sat down for an interview.
“What set Musk off?” “Outfront” host Erin Burnett asked of the billionaire’s unexpected canceling of the platform’s “Don Lemon Show.”
“That’s a superb query for Elon Musk. Quite frankly, I don’t know,” said Lemon, who was wearing thick, black-rimmed glasses and a black sweater with a white button-down.
Burnett flashed a press release from X, saying that it reserved the correct to make decisions about its partnerships, before also playing clips of Musk talking in regards to the importance of free speech on his social media platform.
Lemon, 58, who said his interview with Musk, 52, was “tense at moments” replied that the CEO’s comments about free speech have to be “just talking points.”
The previous CNN anchor expressed surprise that Musk canceled his cope with him 24 hours after the interview.
“What’s interesting to me is … I never raised my voice. I told him, ‘I feel this is essential for people to listen to,’” Lemon said. “At the tip, I could tell he was upset. He was uncomfortable.”
Elon Musk has abruptly canceled Don Lemon’s recent streaming show on the X social media platform. CNN
Despite Lemon’s calm disposition, he did tell Burnett that a public square like X “mustn’t be privately owned” and that freedom of speech “doesn’t mean as much” to Musk because it “does to him.”
He told Burnett that he asked Musk about whether he has a responsibility to police hate speech on X, to which the mogul shot back that he doesn’t have any responsibility to do this or answer questions.
“I don’t must answer questions from reporters. Don, the one reason I’ve done this interview is since you’re on the X platform and also you asked for it, otherwise, I might not do that interview.”
The snippy exchange ended with Lemon asking if he’d be criticized for not answering questions.
“I get criticized continuously, and I could care less,” Musk said
Other topics of conversation included DEI policies that Musk has slammed on his platform. CNN didn’t play any clips showing that exchange.
Lemon said he asked the tech mogul if X has a responsibility to higher moderate harmful theories about race.
Lemon told Burnett that the CEO said the platform doesn’t “amplify” any racist ideology.
“There’s no accountability,” he added.
Lemon corrected Burnett when she referred to Musk as his “boss.”
“Initially, he’s not my boss. They were a distribution partner, they never had editorial control.”
One other tense exchange got here when Lemon asked about Musk’s alleged drug use, specifically pointing to his ketamine use.
Musk said he posted about that because he used it for depression and that it could be “consequential” and helpful for others to find out about.
Lemon also pressed Musk a few recent meeting with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, to which the billionaire said it was a coincidence that Trump stopped by when Musk was visiting a friend.
In a fast exchange, Lemon asked if Trump wanted a donation or asked for money, to which Musk said no to each questions.
“Are you leaning towards anyone?” Lemon asked, wondering if Musk would endorse Trump.
“I’m leaning away from Biden,” the CEO revealed.
Lemon shade
Don Lemon had taped the sit-down with the billionaire owner of X, SpaceX and Tesla on Friday. instagram/donlemonofficial
Musk canceled “The Don Lemon Show” after sitting down for an interview with the canned CNN anchor that was speculated to function his premiere episode on the platform, Lemon said earlier Wednesday.
Lemon had taped the sit-down with the billionaire owner of X, SpaceX and Tesla on Friday.
“Elon Musk has canceled the partnership I had with X,” Lemon said in a statement posted to the social media site.
“There have been no restrictions on the interview that he willingly agreed to, and my questions were respectful and wide ranging, covering every part from SpaceX to the presidential election. We had a superb conversation. Clearly, he felt in another way.”
Musk shot back hours later after touring a Tesla plant in Germany.
“His approach was mainly just ‘CNN, but on social media,’ which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the undeniable fact that CNN is dying,” Musk posted on X.
“And, as an alternative of it being the true Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity. All this said, Lemon/Zucker are in fact welcome to construct their viewership on this platform together with everyone else.”
A source with knowledge of the hour-and-a-half-long interview also noted that Lemon seemed lost without former CNN boss Zucker’s guidance.
“He was unpolished. He didn’t have producers in his ear. Jeff Zucker was in his ear and he would repeat back every part he was told,” the source told The Post.
Lemon conducted the interview with a barebones staff that included his fiance — not the large team the previous anchor had at CNN, the source added.
“Don was underwhelming, unprepared and dull,” the source said, noting that Lemon didn’t ask any edgy or interesting questions.
“He didn’t ask Musk about (ex-girlfriend) Amber Heard. Elon probably would have liked it.”
Musk, the CEO of Tesla and owner of X, abruptly canceled the social media platform’s partnership with Lemon. CNN
Musk wanted Lemon to ask him about his prior relationship with actress Amber Heard, seen on this 2017 photo. Instagram
Lemon’s questions covered touchy topics that included Musk’s drug use and the assorted lawsuits against the mogul and that he has lodged, Deadline reported.
Musk had recruited Lemon in January as a part of an effort to draw more left-leaning voices to the location. He was slated to tape three, 30-minute episodes every week before the apparent rift.
Terms of their deal weren’t disclosed but Musk’s sudden about-face could leave him on the hook for tens of millions of dollars against the litigious Lemon, based on Deadline.
Lemon can be looking for a reported payout of $25 million from CNN over his termination.
In his statement, Lemon accused Musk of reneging on his commitment to free speech and to “amplifying more diverse voices on their platform.”
Lemon said that Musk gave him his “full support” and that he “took Elon and his management team’s word that they … were taken with working directly with recent and diverse voices.”
“His commitment to a worldwide town square where all questions might be asked and all ideas might be shared seems not to incorporate questions of him from people like me,” Lemon said in his statement.
X is a platform that champions free speech, and we’re proud to offer an open environment for diverse voices and perspectives. The Don Lemon Show is welcome to publish its content on X, without censorship, as we imagine in providing a platform for creators to scale their work…
— Business (@XBusiness) March 13, 2024
The primary episode was scheduled to stream on X on Monday. Lemon said it’ll still air on YouTube.
A post by X’s business account said: “X is a platform that champions free speech, and we’re proud to offer an open environment for diverse voices and perspectives. The Don Lemon Show is welcome to publish its content on X, without censorship, as we imagine in providing a platform for creators to scale their work.
“Nonetheless, like every enterprise, we reserve the correct to make decisions about our business partnerships, and after careful consideration, X decided to not enter right into a business partnership with the show.”
In a separate video Lemon posted to X, he said: “I assumed the primary person [to] interview, no-brainer, Elon Musk, the person who calls himself a free speech absolutist. But apparently, free-speech absolutism doesn’t apply on the subject of questions on him from people like me.”
Musk’s alleged drug use was the topic of recent reports in The Wall Street Journal, which cited sources as saying that he took acid, magic mushrooms and ketamine at social events.
Musk has reportedly been microdosing on ketamine to treat depression.
Lemon’s short-lived cope with X got here just months after he was unceremoniously fired from his ratings-challenged morning show at CNN.
Lemon spent 17 years on the network, but Zucker’s successor, Chris Licht, reportedly soured on the anchor’s on-screen and off-screen behavior toward colleagues.
Last yr, Lemon was placed on hiatus after he said during a broadcast of “CNN This Morning” that Nikki Haley, who on the time was running for the GOP nomination for president, was “not in her prime” at age 51.
Lemon also had backstage run-ins with staffers and on-air talent, including co-anchor Kaitlin Collins, as The Post previously reported.
