Just as former CNN anchor Don Lemon was gearing up to debut his new talk show on X/Twitter, “The Don Lemon Show,” it appears that’s no longer the case thanks to a “tense” exchange between Lemon the social media site’s owner Elon Musk.
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Musk was set to be Lemon’s first guest on his talk show, which is set to premiere on Monday, March 18. The Tesla founder purported himself and the site to be a proponent of free speech and came in partnership with Lemon to provide a platform for him to continue doing his good work.
Well, in a post to Lemon’s official Instagram and Twitter page, the deal is now obsolete (“contract terminated” were the exact words from Musk as reported by New York Times contributing reporter and author Kara Swisher) as Musk has decided to cancel Lemon’s show following their interview.
“Elon Musk is mad at me and I just put out a statement about what happened between him, me and the interview that he is apparently so upset about. But make no mistake about this—this is going to be my first episode of ‘The Don Lemon Show’ this coming Monday, March 18th,” Lemon said in a subsequent video message. “So make sure you tune in. This does not change anything about the show except for my relationship with Elon and X. And there’s a whole lot that went down. And I’m going to tell you about it in the coming days.”
He continued:
I know though that many of you were not happy that I was doing this in the first place an you told me so. I just want you to know that I did this deal because not only do I believe in free speech but I believed that this was the best possible chance for the work that I’m doing to reach the largest amount of people.
So speaking of free speech, right? I thought the first person to interview, no brainer, Elon Musk, the man who calls himself a ‘free speech absolutist.’ I asked him to do it, he willingly agreed to the interview. Throughout our conversation, I kept reiterating to him that although it was tense at times—I thought it was good for people to see and hear our exchange and that they would learn from out conversation. Learn more about him, learn more about me. But apparently free speech absolutism doesn’t apply when it comes to questions about him from people like me.
Lemon went on to share that the episode would still be available for viewers to watch and listen to on YouTube and podcast streaming platforms. He said that he would still post the interview on X/Twitter despite Musk’s apparent and alleged disdain.
In an ironic twist, this kerfuffle between the two comes just two hours after Musk tweeted: “Free speech is the bedrock of our democracy.”
Mhhm.
In a subsequent tweet in response to Lemon’s announcement, X/Twitter’s official business account page posted: “X is a platform that champions free speech, and we’re proud to provide an open environment for diverse voices and perspectives. The Don Lemon Show is welcome to publish its content on X, without censorship, as we believe in providing a platform for creators to scale their work and connect with new communities. However, like any enterprise, we reserve the right to make decisions about our business partnerships, and after careful consideration, X decided not to enter into a commercial partnership with the show.”
Lemon’s reaction? “Clean up on Aisle X.”
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