Don Lemon had come to prominence for a fiery and impassioned prime-time show that didn’t fit with new management’s future strategy.
“Don is probably the first person to tell you that he is not an ensemble performer,” said former CNN U.S. president Jon Klein, who hired Lemon as a reporter back in 2006. “He needs to be the guy in the spotlight.”
“I was honestly floored when Chris Licht asked me to do this,” Lemon said at the time, “and I’m honored by his belief in me.”Yet pulling a star like Lemon from prime time also reflected a larger shift underway at CNN, whose new chain of command — including Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive David Zaslav and key shareholder John Malone — has expressed a desire to scale back on the politically charged tone that emanated on the airwaves during the Trump years.
“I can see why people would think Don would work in the morning because he’s super charismatic.” said one CNN on-air colleague. “But it’s a different show, and you do have to change your style a little bit, and you have to produce for that.”A month after its launch, Lemon created a controversy for the fledgling show when he argued that it’s not unfair for the U.S. women’s national soccer team to earn less than the men’s team.
Lemon barely managed to keep his job amid the fallout from the Haley comments, according to a person familiar with network discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships. Licht later explained to employees that he wants CNN to balance accountability with “a culture in which people can own, learn and grow from their mistakes.”Some CNN staffers say they assumed that would have been the right time to make a move, not on Monday, nearly two months after the episode.
At least one advertiser pulled back from advertising on the show, and White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s office had expressed a preference for Harlow to be the one who interviewed her, not Lemon.
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