CNN's Don Lemon Threatened A Co-worker In 2008: Report

CNN anchor Don Lemon, one of the most well-known figures in the cable news business, has in the past made offensive remarks and threats towards female co-workers that have angered him, according to a new report.

Variety this week published a lengthy synopsis of Lemon’s behavior towards women, alleging a pattern of abusive and threatening behavior from the former prime-time host, who currently hosts CNN’s revamped morning program along with Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow.

The report alleges that among other incidents, while Lemon was hosting CNN’s “Live From” program in 2008, Lemon became angry when he was passed over to report for Kyra Phillips, who has since left the network.

Citing unnamed sources on the network at the time, Variety reported Phillips received two threatening text messages from an unknown sender after she was granted the reporting mission, which said, “Now you’ve crossed the line and you’re going to pay for it.”

The texts were eventually traced back from network control to Lemon, the outlet reported.

“Don says the alleged incident never happened and that he was never notified of an investigation,” a spokesman for the network told Variety. “CNN cannot confirm the alleged events of 15 years ago.”

In a separate statement to The Hill, a CNN spokesman called Variety’s coverage “reckless.”

“The story, which is riddled with patently false anecdotes and no concrete evidence, is entirely based on unsubstantiated, unsubstantiated, anonymous 15-year-old gossip,” the rep said. “It’s amazing and disappointing that Variety is being so reckless.”

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Lemon’s comments about women have come under scrutiny in recent weeks after he was widely slammed by critics inside and outside the network for his comments about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley shortly after she announced a White House candidacy.

“Nikki Haley is not in her prime, I’m sorry. A woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s,” Lemon said on the air earlier this year, a quip that earned him an internal rebuke from network president Chris Licht and calls from women’s rights groups to fire him.

“A woman’s age doesn’t define her personally or professionally,” Lemon wrote on Twitter as part of an apology for the comment about Haley. “I have countless women in my life who prove that every day.”