Commentary
CNN's Don Lemon speaks at the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government Institute of Politics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Feb. 22, 2019.
Don Lemon is on an island sulking and feels “ganged up on” since he returned to ratings-challenged “CNN This Morning” last month, according to a report Monday.
The former primetime anchor was sidelined in the wake of remarks he made that portrayed women who are over the age of 50 as past their “prime.”
The comments were intended to be a slight against Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley, but they were widely interpreted as an attack against all women over a certain age.
Lemon was required to undergo mandatory “formal training” as part of his negotiated return to the CNN morning show on Feb. 22.
In the weeks since the drama unfolded, the 57-year-old cable host has celebrated a birthday. If the report Monday is accurate, it wasn’t a happy one.
Aaron Johnson of RadarOnline reported he had spoken to people “close to the situation” who relayed that Lemon is not a happy camper.
“Don Lemon has been sulking on the set of CNN This Morning and feels like he’s being ‘ganged up on’ by his co-anchors Poppy Harlow & Kaitlin Collins,” Johnson reported.
“Sources close to the situation tell RadarOnline.com, the tension on the set of the ratings-challenged morning show hasn’t improved in the past couple of weeks since Don’s scandal over remarks about Nikki Haley,” the report said.
“Don is acting like he’s the victim,” a source told the gossip site. “He is very quiet behind the scenes. He is moping around the joint like he’s the one who has been wronged.”
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Meanwhile, another source said Harlow and Collins have formed a special bond since their co-host classified them and other women as ticking clocks on a collision course with early irrelevancy.
“Poppy and Kaitlin have buddied up and the bond between them is stronger than ever,” the unidentified person was quoted as saying.
“While they have publicly taken Don at his word that he is truly sorry about what he said, the reality is that the relationship between the three of them had been fractured for some many weeks before,” the source said.
Yet another person told RadarOnline, “There is a movement rising inside CNN and it isn’t in support of Don.”
“There is a lot to be said about the strength of two women who have risen through the ranks. It is not that they don’t like Don—they do, and they don’t find him entirely offensive—but they also realize the power of their positions,” the source said.
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In mid-February, Lemon said something on the show that would have probably gotten anyone else fired in response to Haley’s suggestion that the country needs younger leaders.
Lemon’s apparent disdain for women reared its ugly head.
“She says people, you know, politicians or something are not in their prime,” Lemon said. “Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime. Sorry. When a woman is considered to be in her prime — in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.”
When asked to back up the ridiculous claim, a man we’re all told is a serious journalist cited a simple Google search.
“That’s not according to me,” Lemon said. “If you Google ‘when is a woman in her prime,’ it’ll say 20s, 30s and 40s. I’m not saying I agree with it.”
The comment was preceded by months of awkward moments and reports of inner turmoil at CNN’s lowest-rated morning show in a decade. While the drama has died down publicly, Lemon is still reportedly facing a reckoning. He is said to not be handling it well.
While this information comes from unidentified sources as reported by a gossip site, the substance of the reporting — chiefly, the claims Lemon is mopey and portraying himself as a victim — is easy to accept at face value.
Everything we know about him supports the notion that he made his bed and is now lying in it in a state of despair.
Not too long ago, Lemon enjoyed healthy ratings in one of cable’s most sought-after time slots. But the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
His fall from grace came quickly, and apparently he has yet to reach its bottom. At this point, it would not be surprising if Lemon showed up to work to find his door badge deactivated.
His morning show performed better with audiences while he was away, so CNN CEO Chris Licht presumably could let him go without jeopardizing the company’s bottom line.
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