Don Lemon said he doesn’t believe X creator Elon Musk’s reason for canceling his show on the social media platform, highlighting that he’s kept conservative commentator Tucker Carlson despite initially saying he wanted to provide a platform where different perspectives can be shared freely.
He was particularly perplexed by and found it “very telling” when Musk criticized him for “doing the same thing that I did on CNN” when “that’s why he hired me.” Carlson, meanwhile, is “doing exactly what he did on Fox News. But he’s not complaining about that. So there you go.”
“I thought I was doing what he wanted on the platform,” Lemon told Mediaite in an interview published Wednesday. “He said he wanted different voices, that he thought that the people he had on the platform, i.e. Tucker Carlson, he thought they were right, and he wanted a voice to counter that.”
The interview covered the business relationship Lemon had with Musk and the tech giant’s reasons for cutting it off following their much-publicized one-on-one interview that launched “The Don Lemon Show” last week.
McLaughlin mentioned that there were reports that stated the former CNN anchor — who wouldn’t share how much he was paid — wanted an $8 million annual salary and asked for a slew of requests from X. Lemon said he’s merely trying to avoid bringing up their chat.
“Oh come on. That is nonsense,” Lemon said. “People negotiate all the time, but that’s, come on. It’s obviously a deflection. Because it has nothing to do with the interview, and I’m not going to fall into that.”
Musk canceled Lemon’s show hours after their interview, the former CNN anchor announced March 13 ahead of his show’s March 18 premiere.
“Elon Musk has canceled the partnership I had with X, which they announced as part of their public commitment to amplifying more diverse voices on their platform,” Lemon wrote in a statement that morning. “He informed me of his decision hours after an interview I conducted with him on Friday.”
Nevertheless, Lemon aired the episode on his YouTube page and X Monday. During the chat, they discussed a myriad of topics, including the spread of misinformation on Musk’s embattled social media platform, SpaceX, the tech mogul’s ketamine use and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
“Clearly he felt differently,” Lemon said of Musk at the time. “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.”
In an interview with TheWrap following Monday’s premiere, Lemon accused Musk of suppressing views to the interview.
“It would seem to defy credulity that if 21 million people engaged with my post on X announcing my new show, that only a few hundred thousand would be interested in the interview on X as of this afternoon,” Lemon said. “It just doesn’t make sense.”
Watch Lemon’s interview with Mediaite in the video above.
