Ex-CNN star Don Lemon threatened CNN with an Al Sharpton shakedown if they went ahead and fired him according to a bombshell new report about the failing network. The report is from The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta who profiled new CNN boss Chris Licht.
The report details some extraordinary behind-the-scenes action at CNN. The backlash to the report was instant and severe causing Licht to issue an apology to CNN workers today
He told them: “To those whose trust I’ve lost, I will fight like hell to win it back, because you deserve a leader who will be in the trenches, fighting to ensure CNN remains the world’s most trusted name in news,” Licht said,
According to the Report: “Licht could not, however, blame Zucker for what had become his biggest problem: Don Lemon.
“In the middle of February, several weeks before I joined Licht for his morning workout, Lemon set social media ablaze—and infuriated Harlow and Collins, his co-hosts—by asserting that 51-year-old Nikki Haley “isn’t in her prime.”
“A woman is only in her prime, Lemon explained, “in her 20s, 30s, and maybe her 40s.” This was just the latest in a string of offenses.
“For months, Lemon had been making the control room cringe with half-baked opinions, irritating Harlow and Collins by forcing his way into every segment, and angering Licht by adding the sort of superfluous commentary the boss had explicitly warned against.
“Tensions were already high when, one day in December, Collins started to interrupt Lemon during a news report.
“Lemon continued speaking and held up a finger to shush her—“stand by, one second,” he said—and then, after the segment, berated her in front of the crew.
“Their relationship would never recover. By the time Lemon made the “prime” remark, Licht was confronting the reality that his morning show might be a bust.
“There was no neat solution to the Lemon problem. Top executives urged Licht to fire him; Licht, knowing it would be seen as a response to the Haley episode, worried about setting a harsh precedent.
“Lemon pitched an attempt at damage control—a prime-time special on misogyny, which he would host with a roundtable of women—and Licht rejected it.
“Then, a staffer close to Licht told me, Lemon began telling allies that Al Sharpton, Ben Crump, and other Black leaders would rally to his defense if he were fired, making his dismissal a referendum on CNN’s whiteness.
“(A spokesperson for Lemon denied this and accused Licht’s team of spreading rumors about him to distract from Licht’s failures at CNN.), the report said.
When Chris Licht took over CNN, it was in free-fall, a disaster, losing its already-tiny audience, with nobody trusting it other than hard-core Dems.
He decided that, to succeed, it must stop being a DNC messaging-machine (MSNBC does that). That’s why he’s now being destroyed: https://t.co/NX6WOiaM2U
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 5, 2023
Chris Licht began today’s 9am editorial call by congratulating @JakeTapper and the town hall production team for last night’s Nikki Haley town hall. Then he addressed @TheAtlantic article and signaled he is staying on as CNN CEO. Here is what he said…
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 5, 2023
Licht: “To those whose trust I’ve lost, I will fight like hell to win it back, because you deserve a leader who will be in the trenches, fighting to ensure CNN remains the world’s most trusted name in news.” Staffers appreciated his humility. Q now: What do Zaslav & Leavy think?
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 5, 2023
