By DAVID BAUDER (AP Media Writer)
NEW YORK (AP) — CNN fired longtime host Don Lemon on Monday following his brief and disastrous run as a morning present host, somewhat over two months after he apologized for on-air feedback about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley being previous her prime.
The transfer shortly turned nasty. While CNN chairman and CEO Chris Licht introduced, after Lemon had co-hosted the present Monday, that they’d “parted ways,” Lemon characterised it as a firing and stated it was shock to him.
“After 17 years at CNN I would have thought someone in management would have the decency to tell me directly,” Lemon stated. CNN stated that Lemon was given the chance to satisfy with administration however launched an announcement on Twitter as a substitute.
CNN provided no public rationalization for Lemon’s dismissal. During a February dialogue on “CNN This Morning” with co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins in regards to the ages of politicians, he stated that the 51-year-old Haley was not “in her prime.” A lady, he stated, was thought-about in her prime “in her 20s, 30s and maybe her 40s.”
Harlow challenged Lemon, attempting to make clear what he was referencing: “I think we need to qualify. Are you talking about prime for childbearing or are you talking about prime for being president?”
“Don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just saying what the facts are,” Lemon responded.
Lemon issued an announcement the identical day saying he regretted his “inartful and irrelevant” feedback. He was subsequently absent from the present for 3 days, returning the next week with a tweeted apology however no point out of the episode on air.
Haley, who had criticized Lemon’s statements as sexist and used the incident to fundraise in February, took to Twitter on Monday to name Lemon’s ouster “a great day for women everywhere,” linking to the beverage sleeves emblazoned with “Past my prime? Hold my beer.”
Lemon used to host the prime-time “Don Lemon Tonight” however moved when the community launched “CNN This Morning” final November, simply earlier than the U.S. midterm elections, as one of many first main programming strikes below Licht.
He attracted unfavorable consideration final fall by saying that the U.S. males’s soccer staff ought to be paid greater than the ladies’s staff, saying that the boys had been “more interesting to watch.”
Lemon had a well-publicized on-air tiff with Collins final December, when he accused her of attempting to interrupt him.
Lemon additionally had a tense on-air interview final week with Republican presidential contender Vivek Ramaswamy the place Lemon, who’s Black, disputed Ramaswamy’s interpretation of racial historical past.
It’s all a nasty search for a morning information present, the place the viewers is primarily girls and casts attempt to depict themselves as a giant comfortable household. The present has made little headway within the scores towards the extra in style “Fox & Friends” and “Morning Joe” on cable information rivals.
The awful vibes had been starting to price CNN promoting gross sales and a few potential friends had been turning into reluctant to seem on “CNN This Morning,” stated a CNN employees member conversant in the choice to oust Lemon however not approved to talk publicly.
Some individuals near Lemon have steered that the morning job was primarily a demotion for him, and he was given little assist to succeed.
Lemon stated he realized of his firing from his agent.
“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,” he stated.
___
Associated Press Writer Meg Kinnard contributed reporting from Columbia, South Carolina.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”