Don Lemon was terminated from his anchor role at CNN, he announced Monday. Lemon announced the news on Twitter, saying he was informed by his agent that he was being terminated.
"I am stunned," Lemon wrote. "After 17 years at CNN I would have thought someone in management would have had the decency to tell me directly."
CEO of CNN Chris Licht said that the network and Lemon have "parted ways," according to a memo posted on CNN's official communications Twitter account.
"Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years," the statement said.
Don has been with CNN since 2006, joining the network after anchoring at NBC Chicago and working as a correspondent for NBC News.
He first came under fire in February during a segment on “CNN This Morning” in which he remarked that Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, 51, was no longer in her “prime.” The comment was made while discussing a suggestion by Haley that candidates over the age of 75 should be subjected to mental competency exams.
A Variety report published April 5 alleged that Lemon has a long history of questionable behavior toward women. The report was based on more than a dozen former and current colleagues, Variety said, who described Lemon as openly hostile to women at the network. RNN has yet to get a verified the allegations.
Lemon’s termination comes less than two years after former anchor Chris Cuomo was fired from the network. Cuomo, who anchored his own primetime show for CNN, was fired in December 2021 after an attorney general investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against his brother, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
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