After claiming that the 51-year-old Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley wasn’t “in her prime” following her 2024 White House candidacy last week, legacy media anchor Don Lemon won’t be on “CNN This Morning” on Monday.
“Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime. Sorry, when a woman is in their prime [is] in [her] 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.” Don Lemon stated during the CNN morning program last Thursday. Poppy Harlow, Lemon’s co-host, requested him to elaborate since she anticipated that the remark would cause a controversy. “Wait, prime for what?”
Lemon responded: “It depends. It’s just like, prime. If you look it up,” “…If you Google when is a woman in her prime, it’ll say 20s, 30s, 40s.”
Watch Lemon’s comments here:
In a later tweet, the CNN anchor called his criticism of Haley “inartful and irrelevant.”
“The reference I made to a woman’s ‘prime’ this morning was inartful and irrelevant, as colleagues and loved ones have pointed out, and I regret it,” Lemon’s tweet read. “A woman’s age doesn’t define her either personally or professionally. I have countless women in my life who prove that every day.”
The now presidential candidate Nikki Haley responded to the comments and referred to Don Lemon as a “Sexist middle-aged CNN anchor”:
Initially, Lemon was scheduled to co-anchor the CNN’s show ‘This morning” alongside Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins. Confider was able to get and analyze a copy of the CNN anchor schedule, and it appears that Lemon has been benched. Instead, Sara Snider will serve as the anchor with Collins in Poland and Harlow in New York.
The news source was informed by a person with knowledge of the situation that “ongoing negotiations” are taking place over Lemon’s future on the program.
Although without expressly denying that Lemon will be away on Monday, a CNN spokeswoman told Mediaite that the reports about the reasons were false and claimed that Lemon was “taking the holiday” as a result of paparazzi harassment.
The spokesperson stated that “He’s been under attack. He’s not ready to go back on air.”
Chris Licht, the CEO of CNN, allegedly expressed his “disappointment” at Lemon’s remarks regarding Haley on an editorial call on Friday morning.
According to a summary of the conversation obtained by Confider, Licht told his staff members that “His (Lemon) remarks were upsetting, unacceptable, and unfair to his co-hosts, and ultimately a huge distraction to the great work of this organization,”
Lemon offered an apology on the same call:
“I apologize, Lemon said. I never intended to injure anyone. I didn’t aim to hurt anyone’s feelings.”
Confider also said in the report that when employees contacted the outlet to inquire as to why Lemon wouldn’t be coming on “This Morning” on Monday, Lemon’s agent Jay Sures—who is also the Vice Chairman of United Talent Agency—hung up.
According to The Daily Mail, “This Morning” on CNN has averaged just over 330,000 viewers since its debut, which is a historic low.
