Don Lemon, one of the star presenters of the CNN network, will rejoin his program this Wednesday, the morning CNN This Morning, after silently purging for days, away from the cameras, some unfortunate comments about the Republican Nikki Haley. The former ambassador to the UN of the Donald Trump Administration presented her candidacy for the presidency of the United States in 2024 last week and Lemon criticized her decision on air, disqualifying her “advanced” age. Haley is 51 years old.
Lemon, whose characteristic style sometimes borders on overacting, went on to say that Haley, the daughter of prosperous Indian immigrants, had passed the point of running for president. Donald Trump, the other candidate who has formally announced his run for the White House -and in his case for re-election-, is 76 closer to 80 than to 70. Lemon himself has 56.
Lemon’s comment, made on the show last Thursday, was this: “Nikki Haley is not in her prime, sorry. A woman is considered to be in her prime at the age of 20, 30, and perhaps 40. If you google ‘when is a woman in her prime,’ she’ll tell you that, 20, 30, 40 years old,” Lemon said, showing no qualms about the source’s relevance.
Although he did not take long to apologize publicly, the presenter was immediately removed from the cameras and there was even speculation about his future with a possible termination of his contract in the chain of continuous information, with a clearly Democratic editorial line and that in the rankings of audiences always bites the dust of Fox, its most direct rival, as well as a Republican pulpit. Lemon isn’t the first CNN star to find herself in a bind; Before him, the also ineffable Chris Cuomo was swept up in the sex scandal involving his brother, then New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a veteran Democrat, a case that cost him his career.
But both cases are very different. Cuomo was fired, also after a period of quarantine, for using inside information to help his brother when his career was already in free fall due to harassment complaints filed by several women. In the case of Lemon, CNN incurs the violation of a discourse that he has helped to refine, that of political correctness. He ageism and Lemon’s machismo against Haley are not acceptable in a network so correct like CNN.
The CNN staff was informed late Monday by CEO Chris Licht that Lemon will return to work “after receiving formal training” on the matter, without specifying what kind, which can be interpreted as a corrective. “I sat down with Don and we had a frank and meaningful conversation. He has agreed to participate in formal training, as well as continue to listen and learn. We take this situation very seriously,” Licht said in a message that was distributed internally at the company.
Lemon has apologized twice: first, on Twitter (“A woman’s age doesn’t define her personally or professionally. I have countless women in my life who prove it every day”); later, before his colleagues, during an editorial meeting held on Friday.
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