CNN’s Don Lemon said an emotional farewell to his audience on Friday night after almost a decade as a prominent face on the channel’s prime time.
The host shared a montage of his time behind the desk and out in the field from 10 p.m. to midnight ET over the past eight and a half years. Lemon came to light in early 2014 during the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
In his last prime-time show, he aired coverage of the mystery and a montage of much of his coverage since. Lemon covered elections, political bombs, riots, mass shootings, scandals, hurricanes and an attack on the US Capitol.
Lemon ended the video and thanked those who shared kind words with him after his sister’s death in 2018. He also thanked the crew members who kept his show going.
“I wasn’t always perfect because nobody is perfect,” he said. “There’s a lot of pressure on this job, and especially that 10:00 a.m. window when people go to bed. So sometimes all I could do was — I’ll be honest with you — just smile and sometimes just get in the commercial break.”
He added:
Sometimes it was exhausting. Because some of the things that we discuss here are so personal and so consuming, all consuming. I hope I made you proud. And thank you for the vote over the years. And I hope that you will join me in the morning.
So I just say good night and see you soon.
“All right, so I’ll go and go upstairs,” Lemon said. He left the desk, went up a flight of stairs and sniffled.
“Bye,” he said one last time, whimpering and fighting back tears.
Lemon will be moving Monday morning amid a network-wide reorganization first announced by the network chief Chris light Last month. He will host a new show together with colleagues poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins.
Lemon has been with CNN since 2006 and joined the prime time cast in 2014. Alisyn Camerota and Laura Coates will drop anchor from 10 p.m. to midnight – filling the time slot that it frees up.
The duo will follow Jake Tapper, which will take over the 9 p.m. slot currently occupied by CNN Tonight. Tapper’s 5 p.m. slot is filled with an extra hour of The Situation Room Wolf Blitzer.
Anderson Cooper and Erin Burnett remain in their respective time slots for the time being.
The new lineup will be introduced on Monday and continued throughout the midterms. It’s unclear what CNN will look like after the prime-time election.
See above, via CNN.
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