A Timeline Of His Controversies

September 2006Lemon was hired by CNN as a correspondent following stints in local news—he anchored a series of weekend and weekday shows before eventually joining CNN’s primetime lineup.

July 2013Lemon, who is Black, came under fire for arguing on CNN Saturday that Black Americans shouldn’t use the N-word or wear baggy pants, siding with then-Fox News host Bill O’Reilly.

April 2014Lemon began hosting primetime show CNN Tonight, later renamed Don Lemon Tonight.

August 13, 2019Lemon was named in a lawsuit filed by a bartender who accused the then-53-year-old of assaulting him at a bar in 2018 in Sag Harbor, New York—though the suit was later dropped after plaintiff Dustin Hice said his recollection of that night had changed since he filed the suit.

September 7, 2022Lemon was criticized for asking CNN political commentator S.E. Cupp if he was suffering from “mommy brain” and losing their “train of thought.”

November 1, 2022Lemon moved from primetime to CNN This Morning, a morning show co-hosted by Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins and launched by new CNN CEO Chris Licht—Lemon called the move a “promotion,” despite speculation his move was part of a bid by Licht to tone down political commentary on the network.

December 1, 2022Lemon was heavily criticized for sexist on-screen comments about the gender pay gap in professional sports, in which he claimed players on the men’s U.S. soccer team earn more than their female counterparts because “people are more interested in the men,” and insisted he is not inherently sexist because he grew up in a house with women.

February 2, 2023Sources told the New York Post Lemon repeatedly argued with and in one instance screamed at Collins off-air, before being pulled aside by a producer who told him to take a day to “cool off”—a source also told People the incident was one of at least three similar blow-ups.

February 16, 2023Lemon was suspended from CNN This Morning after claiming 2024 GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley—who argued older politicians should face mental competency tests—“isn’t in her prime” because “a woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s, and maybe 40s”—Lemon was slammed for his comments, including by 51-year-old Haley (who sold merchandise with the “past my prime” logo), and later apologized, calling his remarks “inartful and irrelevant” and saying a “woman’s age doesn’t define her either personally or professionally.”

April 5, 2023A bombshell Variety report accused Lemon of repeatedly clashing with female colleagues like Soledad O’Brien and Nancy Grace, at one point tearing up notes inside co-host Kyra Phillips’ desk when she got an assignment in Iraq instead of him and texting her, “you’ve crossed the line, and you’re going to pay for it”—a CNN spokesperson told Variety Lemon denied the allegations, while Lemon’s representative said the report was “riddled with patently false anecdotes and no concrete evidence.”Sources also told Variety Lemon complained to executives in July 2009 after not receiving as much airtime as colleague Anderson Cooper at late singer Michael Jackson’s memorial service in Los Angeles, claiming his complaints were part of a series of “diva-like behavior” that led to him being reprimanded by a company executive.

April 19, 2023Lemon appeared to be angered when he got into an on-air argument with GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, accusing him of “splaining” Black history—an exchange that irritated CNN executives, the New York Times reported.

April 24, 2023Lemon announced on Twitter he had been terminated after 17 years with CNN, saying he was “stunned” by the decision and blasting CNN’s management for not having the “decency to tell me directly” (CNN later tweeted Lemon had been offered a chance to meet with management and that his statements were “inaccurate”).