Don Lemon, accompanied by two network colleagues, at a CNN gala in New York last December Evan Agostini (Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Don Lemon, one of the CNN network’s star anchors, is set to return to his CNN This Morning program this Wednesday after days of quietly keeping some unfortunate comments about Republican Nikki Haley off the cameras. The former UN ambassador to the Donald Trump administration last week unveiled her candidacy for the presidency of the United States in 2024, and Lemon criticized her decision on the air, disqualifying her “advanced” age. Hailey is 51 years old.
Lemon, whose signature style sometimes borders on exaggeration, went on to say that Haley, the daughter of wealthy Indian immigrants, has passed the point of a presidential candidacy. Donald Trump, the other candidate who has officially announced his candidacy for the White House — and in his case, for re-election — is closer to 80 at 76 than 70. Lemon himself is 56.
Lemon’s comment, posted on the show last Thursday, read: “Nikki Haley is not in her prime, sorry. A woman in her 20s, 30s, and maybe 40s is considered to be in her prime. If you google “when is a woman in her prime” it will bring you up 20, 30, 40 years old,” Lemon said, showing no concern about the font’s relevance.
Although he did not apologize publicly for long, the presenter was immediately removed from the cameras and there was even speculation about his future with a possible termination of contract in the ongoing information chain, with a clearly democratic editorial line and the in the audience rankings Fox always bites the dust, his direct rival, as well as a Republican pulpit. Lemon isn’t the first CNN star to find himself in a bind; Before him, the equally incredible Chris Cuomo was embroiled in the sex scandal involving his brother, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a veteran Democrat, a case that cost him his career.
But both cases are very different. Cuomo was also fired after a period of quarantine for using inside information to help his brother when his career was already in freefall due to molestation complaints from multiple women. In Lemon’s case, CNN violates a discourse it helped evaluate, that of political correctness. Lemon’s ageism and machismo against Haley are unacceptable in a chain as correct as CNN.
CNN staffers were informed late Monday by CEO Chris Licht that Lemon would return to work “after formal training” on the matter, without specifying what sort of thing could be interpreted as corrective. “I sat down with Don and we had a frank and meaningful conversation. They have agreed to attend formal training and continue to listen and learn. We take this situation very seriously,” Licht said in a statement shared within the company.
Lemon has apologized twice: first on Twitter (“A woman’s age doesn’t define her personally or professionally. I have countless women in my life who prove it every day”); later, in front of his colleagues, during an editorial meeting on Friday.
Subscribe to the EL PAÍS America newsletter here and receive all the latest news from the region