Elon Musk has reportedly canceled Don Lemon’s contract with X after the former CNN anchor asked Musk about his alleged usage of ketamine in an interview.
Earlier this year, Lemon struck a multi-million dollar deal with Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to host a new program called The Don Lemon Show. At the time, Lemon lauded X for being the “biggest space for free speech in the world. I know now more than ever that we need a place for honest debate and discussion without the hall monitors.”
However, Lemon has now learned that there are limits to the “free speech” on X — especially as it relates to Musk. According to veteran tech reporter Kara Swisher, Musk terminated Lemon’s contract after an interview last Friday “that was not to [Musk’s] liking, including questions about his ketamine use.”
Lemon confirmed the report in a statement issued on Wednesday, saying that he was informed that Musk was terminating his contract hours after the interview took place. “There were no restrictions on the interview that he willingly agreed to, and my questions were respectful and wide ranging,” Lemon added. “We had a good conversation. Clearly he felt differently. His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to included questions of him from people like me.”
Lemon said he still intends to release his interview with Musk on Monday, March 18th, and it will be available on YouTube, X, and various podcast platforms.
In a statement, X wrote, “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.”
In his own post, Musk justified the termination by claiming that, “[Lemon’s] 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.”