Don Renaldo Lemon-Clark (born March 1, 1966) is an American television journalist best known for being a host onCNN from 2014 until 2023. He anchored weekend news programs on local television stations in Alabama and Pennsylvania during his early days as a journalist.[2] Lemon worked as a news correspondent forNBC on its programming, such asToday andNBC Nightly News.
He joined CNN in 2006, also as a correspondent and later achieved prominence as the presenter ofDon Lemon Tonight from 2014 to 2022. He most recently served as a co-host ofCNN This Morning, alongsideKaitlan Collins andPoppy Harlow. After several on-air controversies and reports of alleged decades-long instances ofmisogyny, he was fired by CNN in April 2023.[4]
Early life and education
Don Renaldo Lemon-Clark[5][6][7][8] was born March 1, 1966, inBaton Rouge,Louisiana, the son of Katherine Marie (Bouligney) and Wilmon Lee Richardson.[9][10] His father was a prominent attorney whose firm was party to a lawsuit that successfully challengedracial segregation of public transportation in Baton Rouge.[11] Lemon was born under the surname of his mother's then-husband, and discovered that Richardson was his father when he was five.
He is of mostly African-American ancestry, along withCreole; his maternal grandmother was the daughter of a black mother and a white father, who had French and Scots-Irish ancestry.[11][12] Lemon has stated he wassexually molested as a child by a teenage boy who lived nearby,[13] and that he knew he was gay prior to this incident.[14] He attendedBaker High School, a public high school in the town ofBaker inEast Baton Rouge Parish. He was voted class president during his senior year.[13]
Lemon joinedCNN in September 2006.[17] He has been outspoken in his work at CNN, criticizing the state of cable news and questioning the network publicly.[19] He has also voiced strong opinions on ways that the African American community can improve their lives, which has caused some controversy.[20]
In 2014, CNN began to pilot prime time shows hosted by Lemon, includingThe Eleventh Hour andThe Don Lemon Show. Following the disappearance ofMalaysia Airlines Flight 370, Lemon began to host a special, nightly program featuring discussion and analysis of the event by aviation experts.[21] After a realignment of CNN's schedule following the cancellation ofPiers Morgan Live, this hour was replaced by the news programCNN Tonight; Lemon would later become the permanent host of the hour asCNN Tonight with Don Lemon.[22] Lemon has also participated in CNN'sNew Year's Eve Live as a correspondent from a city in theCentral Time Zone, most often alongside fellow CNN anchorBrooke Baldwin.[23][24][25]
In May 2021, it was announced that Lemon, along with fellow CNN journalistChris Cuomo, would launch a podcast namedThe Handoff centering around "politics and personal".[26] On May 17,CNN Tonight with Don Lemon was retitled to simplyDon Lemon Tonight; Lemon apologized for how he teased the rebranding on his show, stating that he "didn't mean to set the internet on fire"—in reference to viewers who thought that Lemon would be departing CNN.[27][28]
In February 2022, CNN announced Lemon would be hosting a talk show for CNN's then-forthcoming streaming serviceCNN+ calledThe Don Lemon Show.[29] Two episodes were released in the service's sole month of operation in April 2022.[30]
On September 15, 2022, it was announced that Lemon would co-anchor a new CNN morning show withKaitlan Collins andPoppy Harlow later in the year.[31] On October 12, 2022, it was announced that the morning show would be namedCNN This Morning.[32] Lemon's tenure on the show ended with his April 2023 firing.[4][33]
Political commentary
Lemon's outspoken criticism ofDonald Trump made him a target of the president.[34] In January 2018, after Trump controversially referred to countries such asEl Salvador,Haiti, andHonduras as"shitholes" during a meeting on immigration, Lemon openedCNN Tonight with a proclamation that "The president of the United States is racist. A lot of us already knew that."[35] In March 2016, Lemon was interviewingOmarosa Newman andKellyanne Conway about the Republican presidential primary. Lemon cut to a commercial break after calling for Newman's microphone to be turned off because she did not want to begin the interview with his original question about a tweet comparing the physical appearances of Trump's wife and US SenatorTed Cruz's wife, which Trump had retweeted.[36]
In October 2018, during a discussion withChris Cuomo onCuomo Prime Time amid theJeffersontown shooting, Lemon argued that Americans should not "demonize any one group or any one ethnicity", and thatdomestic terrorism bywhite supremacist Americans, "most of themradicalized tothe right", were a bigger threat to the safety of the country than foreigners. He went on to ask, "there is no travel ban on [white people], they have theMuslim ban, there is no white guy ban, so what do we do about that?" Lemon's remarks were criticized by conservative figures, who felt that it was "race baiting" and contradicted his suggestion that Americans should not "demonize any one group or any one ethnicity." In response to the criticism, Lemon cited data from a report by theGovernment Accountability Office stating that there had been 255 fatalities between September 12, 2001, and December 31, 2016, involving domestic extremists, and that killings by far-right extremists outranked those by Islamic extremists in 10 of the 15 years tracked. In the same period, no deaths were credited to attacks by far-left extremists.[37][38][39]
Involvement in Jussie Smollett case
Lemon faced accusations of unethical journalism during the trial of theJussie Smollett hate crime hoax case. It was revealed during court testimony that Lemon had sent Smollett messages informing him that theChicago Police Department did not believe his account of what had happened on the night in question. Lemon who covered the trial on hisCNN showDon Lemon Tonight did not disclose his involvement or his interactions with Smollett.[40][41]
Allegations of misogyny
In December 2022, Lemon was involved in an onscreen argument with co-anchors Collins and Harlow over the pay inequity in women's sports. Lemon argued that "people are more interested in the men". In defending his stance, he stated that he could not be sexist because he had grown up as the only male in a family of all women.[42]
On February 19, 2023, afterNikki Haley called for "mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old", Lemon said "this whole talk about age makes me uncomfortable, I think it is the wrong road to go down", before continuing "She says people, you know, politicians or something are not in their prime. Nikki Haley isn't in her prime, sorry. A woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s." His remarks were criticized online as sexist; Lemon later apologized,[43][44] and did not appear onCNN This Morning on February 20;[45] he returned on February 22.[46]
In April 2023,Variety published a report alleging that Lemon had a history of misogynistic behavior towards his colleagues, includingSoledad O'Brien,Kyra Phillips andNancy Grace, dating back to 2008. This reportedly included questioning whether O'Brien was black, threatening Phillips, and mocking Grace.[47][48] A spokesperson for Lemon denied the allegations, saying, "The story, which is riddled with patently false anecdotes and no concrete evidence, is entirely based on unsourced, unsubstantiated, 15-year-old anonymous gossip."[49][50]
Firing from CNN
On April 24, 2023, Lemon was fired by CNN; his contract would have expired in 2026.[51] According toThe New York Times, CNN had experienced difficulty in booking guests willing to appear on-air with Lemon, and polls had shown his popularity among viewers had declined.[51] Lemon said that the firing came as a surprise, and that the network had failed to inform him in person, which CNN denied.[52] This coincidentally occurred on the same day thatTucker Carlson was fired byFox News.[4][33]
The Don Lemon Show (2024)
On January 9, 2024, Lemon announced plans for a new show onX,The Don Lemon Show.[53] X ownerElon Musk was the show's first interviewee. After the Elon Musk interview was filmed but before the interview aired, Elon Musk cancelledThe Don Lemon Show on X, resulting in the interview being published on YouTube and as a podcast instead.[54] Don Lemon stated after the interview, "Elon Musk is mad at me". The interview covered topics such as lawsuits filed by and against Musk, his usage of drugs, his political leanings, and his perspective on immigration and theGreat Replacement theory.[55][56][57]
Honors and awards
Lemon at Redlight Traffic's inaugural Dignity Gala in October 2013
In his 2011 memoir,Transparent, Lemon publicly came out as gay—having been out in his personal life and with close colleagues—becoming "one of the few openly gay black men in broadcasting".[66][67][68] He also discussedcolorism in the black community and the sexual abuse he suffered as a child.[69] He dedicated the book toTyler Clementi, a college student whokilled himself after his roommateouted him online.[70]
On January 31, 2018, Lemon's sister, L'Tanya "Leisa" Lemon Grimes, died at the age of 58; police concluded that her death was an accidental drowning in a pond while fishing.[71] After being absent for approximately a week, he opened his show on February 6 by thanking everyone who wished him "prayers and words of encouragement".[72]
Lemon met real estate agent Tim Malone in 2016, after which the two began dating.[73] The couple married on April 6, 2024, in New York City.[74]
^For Outstanding Achievement within a Regularly Scheduled News Program – Specialty Report: Business/Consumer.
^For Outstanding Achievement within a Regularly Scheduled News Program – Soft News Feature Series and Outstanding Achievement for Alternate Media/New Media Interactivity
^abc"Don Lemon". CNN.Archived from the original on July 11, 2012. RetrievedJanuary 8, 2011.
^abVirchow, Krause & Company, LLP (November 19, 2006)."2005-2006 Emmy Recipients"(PDF). Chicago/Midwest Chapter National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on October 20, 2016. RetrievedDecember 1, 2019.
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