A scathing exposé aimed at Don Lemon has unearthed the CNN anchor’s long history of alleged misogyny, bullying, and “diva-like behavior.”
Lemon has been under fire since making a disparaging comment by claiming 51-year-old Nikki Haley isn’t a viable presidential candidate because she “isn’t in her prime.” Amid the scrutiny, Variety released a shocking report that revealed nearly 15 years of alleged antics that paint Lemon as a behind-the-scenes terror who used charm and name-dropping to avoid harsher punishment.
The alleged instances date back to 2008 when Lemon was co-anchoring CNN’s Live From weekday show with Kyra Phillips. Tension mounted between the two anchors, with Lemon reportedly being pulled off the air during commercial breaks due to his behavior.
Amid Lemon’s alleged feud with Phillips, she received a threatening text reading, “Now you’ve crossed the line, and you’re going to pay for it.” Following a human resources investigation, the texts were traced back to Lemon, who ended up getting pulled from his co-anchor duties with Phillips and moved to the weekends.
Elsewhere, those who worked with Lemon accused him of being a shameless name-dropper who boasted of winning racial discrimination lawsuits against Tower Records and the Chicago PD that garnered him large sums of money.
The veteran CNN anchor is also said to have broken a number of company rules, including dating a staffer 20 years his junior; Lemon was 41 and the employee was 21 at the time.
“As fast as you could make a rule, Don would bend it,” one senior executive said of Lemon.
Lemon is also accused of making misogynistic comments toward women, like calling them “fat” or mocking former anchor Nancy Grace. While Grace declined to comment, a close source said “she thinks he’s an ass” and that he was always “rude, dismissive and really unfamiliar with the [news] content being discussed.”
“That was the beginning of when you knew that Don was kind of volatile and didn’t say good things about women,” a witness claimed.
Lemon is also said to have taken aim at Soledad O’Brien after she was selected to host the Black in America docuseries in 2008. During an editorial meeting with 30 staffers, Lemon is accused of saying O’Brien wasn’t Black enough to host the series.
“Don always wanted to be front and center on anything high profile, especially anything involving race,” said a colleague.
When it comes to his “diva-like behavior,” insiders said Lemon was known to attend meetings late or not at all and display no interest during meetings. Reps for Lemon denied the claims and said the alleged text threat to Phillips never happened.O’Brien, supported the claims saying, “Don has long had a habit of saying idiotic and inaccurate things, so it sounds pretty on brand for him.”
“Don says the alleged incident never occurred and that he was never notified of any investigation. CNN cannot corroborate the alleged events from 15 years ago.”
The famed CNN anchor remains on thin ice following his remarks on Haley and amid a drop in ratings for the news channel.