Intriguing Details of What Reportedly Led to Don Lemon/CNN Split Require Some Popcorn

It’s been a big day in Media World, with the shocking news of popular commentator Tucker Carlson and Fox News “parting ways” and then the reports that CNN had fired longtime anchor Don Lemon dominating the news cycle.

As always in these matters, everyone wants to know the details – what happened, why did it happen, how did it go down, etc.

Lemon is claiming that he learned through his agent that his employment had been “terminated,” while CNN’s PR team is saying he indeed was offered an opportunity to meet with the higher-ups to discuss the situation. But regardless of that particular point, the fact of the matter remains that Lemon is no longer with CNN and people are curious as to the reasons behind it.

According to Variety, the embattled co-host of CNN’s “This Morning” was causing a lot of problems for ad salespeople at Warner Bros. Discovery, and bookers constantly ran into problems trying to get guests for his show. Also problematic, their sources told them, was that Lemon simply couldn’t connect with average viewers:

At CNN, according to a person familiar with the matter, executives had grown concerned about Lemon’s ability to connect with audiences. Bookers were having difficulty lining up certain guests, this person says, and ad-sales executives at corporate parent Warner Bros. Discovery faced headwinds when trying to lure sponsors to the program.

After Lemon’s “Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime” comments blew up the Internet, CNN, and the Media World at large back in February, who could blame them?

They also reported that, as Lemon indicated, his agent was told about it before he was — and that it didn’t even come from Licht:

CNN’s dismissal of the anchor was not warm. A senior CNN executive — not CEO Chris Licht — called Lemon’s agent at UTA, Jay Sures, according to one person familiar with the exchange. Lemon had just been on “CNN This Morning” for its Monday broadcast. In a statement, CNN disputed those details. “Lemon was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter,” the company said.

Variety also noted that Lemon’s former “This Morning” co-hosts, Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins, also may be addressing the matter on the program Tuesday morning, which for Lemon’s staunchest critics would equate to a bit of karma of sorts considering how CNN insiders periodically leaked to the press how shabbily he allegedly treated not just Harlow and Collins but also staffers on set including some at CNN who published the “news” organization’s newsletter.

The news that CNN has sent Lemon packing comes just two weeks after a detailed story, also published by Variety, claimed that “more than a dozen former and current colleagues… painted a picture of a journalist who flouted rules and cozied up to power all while displaying open hostility to many female co-workers” with Lemon “charm[ing] his way out of facing any meaningful consequences” each time.

CNN initially pushed back on the report at the time, laughably criticizing the fact that it was sourced anonymously even though anonymous sourcing is pretty much the basis of most of CNN’s “blockbuster” stories.

Was this a case of “where there’s smoke, there’s fire”? No doubt we’ll be learning more in the weeks to come, but in the meantime, let’s all be entertained (or not) all over again by Lemon’s twerking during a New Year’s Eve broadcast two years ago: