Don Lemon says Musk terminated deal with X

Former CNN host Don Lemon says his contract with billionaire Elon Musk to start a new show on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, has been terminated.

Lemon recently recorded an interview with the platform’s controversial owner as part of the rollout of his new show, which was slated for next week.

Musk did not like the way the conversation between the two men went, Lemon said in a statement posted Wednesday to his X account, and Musk informed the host his deal with the platform was ending hours after the two recorded the interview.

“There’s a whole lot that went down and I’m going to tell you about it in the coming days,” Lemon said in a separate video posted to his account. “I know that many of you were not happy that I was doing this in the first place.”

Lemon said he initially agreed to a deal with X because not only does he “believe in free speech,” but he thought X “was the best possible chance for the work” he’s “doing to reach the largest amount of people.”

The former cable news host said he plans to publish his interview Monday on YouTube and X.

Lemon was fired by CNN last spring after a slew of controversies, including comments about former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, whom he referred to as “not in her prime” — remarks that were widely panned as sexist.

The longtime cable personality is one of several former news media veterans to venture outside of legacy outlets in recent months. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson started a new show on X last year, and MSNBC pundit Mehdi Hasan earlier this year announced he would launch a media brand of his own.

In a statement on Wednesday, X said Lemon “is welcome to publish its content on X, without censorship, as we believe in providing a platform for creators to scale their work and connect with new communities.” 

“However, like any enterprise, we reserve the right to make decisions about our business partnerships, and after careful consideration, X decided not to enter into a commercial partnership with the show,” the company said. 

Musk went a step further. 

“His approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media’, which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying,” Musk said after being interviewed by Lemon. “And, instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity,” he added drawing reference to CNN’s longtime chief executive. 

“All this said, Lemon/Zucker are of course welcome to build their viewership on this platform along with everyone else,” Musk said. 

— Updated at 1:48 p.m.