Don Lemon’s X/Twitter Talk Show Partnership Axed After Interview With Elon Musk
Two months after announcing a partnership with X/Twitter for a new talk show, Don Lemon has revealed that the deal has been axed following a one-on-one interview with the platform’s owner, Elon Musk.
In a lengthy statement on the matter, Lemon shared that he received word of the deal being killed hours after his sit-down with Musk, which was filmed for the premiere episode of the series, The Don Lemon Show, dropping March 18.
“We had a good conversation. Clearly he felt differently,” Lemon said of the interview. “His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me.”
“There were no restrictions on the interview that he willingly agreed to, and my questions were respectful and wide ranging, covering everything from SpaceX to the presidential election,” Lemon insisted.
Musk addressed his issue with the interview in a social media post of his own, believing that Lemon simply wanted to bring his CNN — from which he was fired in 2023 — habits to social media, which doesn’t work for the Tesla founder.
“His approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media’, which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying. And, instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just [former CNN president] Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity. All this said, Lemon/Zucker are of course welcome to build their viewership on this platform along with everyone else.”
Yes, Lemon is still on the app and his show will go on, despite the deal’s cancellation.
“’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,” the corporate account for X said in a statement. “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.”
According to Lemon, the Q&A with Musk will be posted to YouTube, podcast platforms and will still be available via X. Check out his full statement below.
