Don Lemon has given his first interview about CNN since being fired by the network in April. In talks with an ABC News local affiliate in Memphis, he spoke out about former CNN CEO Chris Licht‘s leadership and his goals of making the news network’s coverage more centrist.
Licht stepped down as CNN CEO in early June, just six weeks after Lemon’s ousting. His departure came shortly after the Donald Trump CNN town hall on May 10. Licht and the network were lambasted for hosting Trump, whose repeated lies about the 2020 election, the January 6 insurrection, and more went largely unchallenged by town hall moderator/Lemon’s former co-star Kaitlan Collins. Addressing CNN’s increased platforming of right-wing politicians, Lemon said his ousting from CNN boiled down to a responsibility to “tell the truth.”
“I have a responsibility not only as a journalist, but as an American, to tell the truth and to abide by the promises of the Constitution. Because the Constitution says ‘a more perfect union,’ not ‘a perfect union.’ I’m not a perfect person, no one is.”
“In order to fulfill the promise of the Constitution, we have to stand up for what is right. We have to stand up for the truth,” he added. Without directly referencing Licht, Lemon implied that CNN’s recent news coverage and platform of right-wing ideologies is a “dereliction of journalistic duty.”
“I don’t believe in platforming liars and bigots, insurrectionists, and election deniers and putting them on the same footing as people who are telling the truth — people who are fighting for what’s right, people who are abiding by the Constitution,” Lemon said. “I think that would be a dereliction of journalistic duty to do those sorts of things.”
“That is what has gotten me to this point, and that is what is going to carry me forward,” Lemon continued. “To know that I am doing the right thing, that I am standing up and abiding by the Constitution, which my profession demands that I do because we are listed in the First Amendment of the Constitution, which is ‘freedom of speech, freedom of expression and freedom of the press.’”
Lemon was with CNN for 17 years before being let go on April 24. He announced his departure on Twitter, saying he was “stunned” that management didn’t have “the decency to tell me directly. At no time was I ever given any indication that I would not be able to continue to do the work I have loved at the network. It is clear that there are some larger issues at play.” CNN’s PR team said in a subsequent Twitter response that Lemon’s version of the story was inaccurate.
“Don Lemon’s statement about this morning’s events is inaccurate,” the tweet read. “He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter.”
Lemon’s firing came not long after a Variety exposé detailing his reportedly “diva-like” behavior on set over the years and his mistreatment of female colleagues. Some of those women went on the record for the exposé to detail their negative experiences with the anchor. Licht’s departure from the network also came after a similar exposé was published in The Atlantic, which painted him as an executive obsessed with following Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav’s reported instructions to give Republican viewpoints more attention on the network.
