DON Lemon has announced that his partnership with Elon Musk and X, formerly Twitter, was canceled five days before his new show was set to debut on the platform.
Lemon revealed on Wednesday that Musk informed him of the decision hours after he interviewed the X head honcho, which was set to be the premiere episode of his new show, The Don Lemon Show.
Elon Musk canceled Don Lemon’s new show just days before its debut on X, formerly TwitterCredit: X/donlemon
Lemon announced his X partnership in early JanuaryCredit: X/donlemon
“Elon publicly encouraged me to join X with a new show, saying I would have his ‘full support,’ and that his ‘digital town square is for all,” Lemon said after announcing the partnership in January.
“He and his team pursued the deal in numerous conversations and made significant commitments about the support X would provide for the show.
“I made the decision to work with them in a unique partnership that I believed would ultimately assure that my work would be available to the most people, in the largest possible venue.
“I took Elon and his management team’s word that they, for the first time, were interested in working directly with new and diverse voices.”
‘TENSE INTERVIEW’
Lemon said there were no restrictions in his conversation with the Tesla founder, saying they spoke about SpaceX and the upcoming presidential election.
“We had a good conversation,” the former CNN anchor said.
“Clearly he felt differently. His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me.”
Lemon revealed that the interview will still premiere as scheduled and will be available to stream on YouTube, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and X.
“This will be just the first of many episodes of The Don Lemon Show. While Elon goes back on his word, I will be doubling down on my commitment to free speech and I cannot wait to get started,” he concluded.
The U.S. Sun has reached out to Lemon for comment.
CNN’s Don Lemon sparks fury for outrageous on-air claim women are only in their prime ‘in their 20s, 30s and maybe 40s’
‘FREE SPEECH ABSOLUTIST’
In a follow-up video, Lemon again claimed Musk was bitter about their interview, “Elon Musk is mad at me, and I just put out a statement about what happened between him, me, and the interview that he is apparently so upset about.”
Lemon went on to blast Musk for claiming to be a “free speech absolutist” but moved to cancel his show.
“Throughout our conversation, I kept reiterating to him that although it was tense at times, I thought it was good for people to see and hear our exchange and that they would learn from our conversation,” he said.
“Learn more about him, learn more about me. But apparently, free speech absolutism doesn’t apply when it comes to questions about him from people like me.”
In fact, Musk, who purchased Twitter, as it was previously named, in October 2022 for $44 billion, billed his takeover of the platform as a move to protect free speech.
‘CNN, BUT ON SOCIAL MEDIA’
X’s Business account confirmed they decided not to partner with Lemon but said the journalist still has the right to publish his show’s content on their platform without censorship.
On the other hand, Musk criticized Lemon’s approach to their interview, saying it was “basically CNN but on social media,” which he said does not work, citing the news network’s declining viewership.
Lemon was fired from CNN in April 2023 after his inflammatory remarks about middle-aged women while on the air.
“And, instead of it being the real Don Lemon. It was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity,” Musk wrote.
“All this said, Lemon/Zucker are of course welcome to build their viewership on this platform along with everyone else.”
