Elon Musk Pitches Twitter Show To Don Lemon—After Tucker ...

11 May 2023

Forbes

Topline

On the same day former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson announced he’d be hosting a show on Twitter, owner Elon Musk offered the same opportunity to ousted former CNN anchor Don Lemon, inviting him to do a new program on the platform.

Don Lemon attends the 15th annual CNN Heroes All-Star Tribute at the American Museum of Natural ... [+] History on Sunday, December 12, 2021, in New York.

Evan Agostini/2021 Invision/AP Key Facts

Musk responded late Tuesday night to Lemon’s tweet from April 24 that announced his departure from CNN, asking him to consider following in Carlson’s footsteps and hosting a show on Twitter, saying: “Maybe worth a try. Audience is much bigger.”

Tucker Carlson announced on Twitter Tuesday afternoon that he would launch a show on the platform, calling Twitter the “last big” platform that permits “free speech.”

Lemon tweeted news of his firing last month, claiming he was “stunned” and thought “someone in management would have had the decency” to tell him directly; CNN disputed that claim and said they offered Lemon “an opportunity to meet with management but instead (he) released a statement on Twitter.”

Since his departure, Lemon has only made public comments about his career when walking the red carpet at the Time 100 Gala, where he said he had no regrets about his time at CNN and would spend the summer relaxing, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

Key Background

Lemon joined CNN in 2006 as a correspondent and began hosting a prime-time show in 2014, but he was moved to a morning show in 2022 where he came under criticism for making sexist comments about the gender pay gap in professional sports and had at least six other incidents in which he was accused of misconduct or came under fire for comments on or off the air. Word of Lemon and Carlson’s departures from their respective outlets came on the same day in late April, shocking the cable news world. Carlson and Fox separated after 14 years following Fox’s settlement of a defamation case with Dominion Voting Systems, though Carlson had also come under criticism for spreading misinformation about the 2020 election, despite knowing the claims were at least partially false. The New York Times reported that Carlson’s firing was prompted in part by a 2021 text message in which he criticized a group of Trump supporters for attacking someone, reportedly saying it’s not how “white men fight.” The text message had been unearthed in Dominion’s case against Fox News.

Surprising Fact

After Carlson announced the Twitter show, Musk tweeted, “We have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever,” but noted that Carlson could earn revenue from subscriptions and advertising on the platform. “Tucker is subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators,” Musk said. Hours later, he tweeted to Lemon about following Carlson’s lead.