Well, that didn’t take long.
X chief twit Elon Musk has canceled the platform’s deal with former CNN host Don Lemon after one taping of the show. That one taping? A “tense-at-times,” 90-minute interview that Lemon did with Musk.
In an Instagram post, Lemon wrote, “Elon Musk has canceled the partnership I had with X, which they announced as part of their public commitment to amplifying more diverse voices on their platform. He informed me of his decision hours after an interview I conducted with him on Friday. That interview will remain the premiere episode of The Don Lemon Show on Monday, March 18.”
So what happened in the interview that caused Musk to kill Lemon’s show before the first episode even aired?
Lemon said in his post, “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. 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 include questions of him from people like me.”
The interview reportedly included such topics as Musk’s ketamine use, SpaceX, free speech, and the presidential election. Some are speculating that Musk wasn’t happy about being asked about ketamine, among other topics.
Musk, however, responded this way on X when asked about what happened: “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 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.”
In an official company statement, X said, “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.”
Interestingly, it was Musk who first reached out to Lemon about doing a show on X after Lemon was abruptly fired from CNN last April. The two announced their partnership in January and Lemon bragged how X was “the biggest space for free speech in the world.”
Lemon may no longer be doing a show in partnership with X, but that doesn't mean he won’t do a show. He said in his statement, “Our conversation will be available on YouTube, wherever you listen to podcasts and X. This will be just the first of many episodes of The Don Lemon Show. While Elon goes back on his word, I will be doubling down on my commitment to free speech and I cannot wait to get started.”
Lemon also put out a video on X, saying, “Elon Musk is mad at me.” He then later added, “This does not change anything about the show except for my relationship with Elon and X. There’s a whole lot that went down and I’m going to tell you about it in the coming days.”
Interestingly, veteran media journalist Brian Stelter tweeted, “What went wrong in the sit-down between Elon Musk and Don Lemon? We'll have to watch the interview to find out. A source tells me it was ‘like a bad first date;’ the two men did not vibe at all. Obviously that's no reason to cancel a commercial partnership, however.”
One surprising thing the Lemon-Musk interview/cancellation kerfuffle ended up doing: It put Lemon back on CNN for the first time since he was fired. He went on with Erin Burnett on Wednesday night to talk about the interview. CNN aired some of the clips of Lemon and Musk.
Lemon showed one clip where Musk admitted he wasn’t enthused about sitting down for an interview. Musk said, “Don, the only reason I'm doing this interview is because you're on the X platform and you asked for it. Otherwise, I would not do this interview.”
Lemon told Burnett that the interview with Musk was “tense at times.”
To be clear, Lemon can still post his shows on X on his own. And, his representative says Lemon still expects to be paid for the contract he signed with X. The rep, Allison Gollust, told CNBC’s Ryan Anastasio in a statement, “Don has a deal with X and expects to be paid for it. If we have to go to court we will.”
But did he actually sign a contract? Semafor’s Max Tani reports that “Lemon does not have a signed contract.”
Tani, however, added, “People close to Lemon have dismissed some of these concerns. One person familiar with the agreement pushed back on the argument that X doesn’t owe Lemon money, saying that X’s legal department took weeks to get a contract to the host’s team. Further, according to one person familiar with the deal, X’s legal team had begun selling ads on the show, and its CEO Linda Yaccarino had promoted the deal at the CES conference in January.”
In the end, we are once again reminded how fragile and thin-skinned Musk is. He goes on and on about free speech and as soon as someone says something he doesn’t like, he takes his ball — or, in this case, his social media toy — and goes home. You would think one of the richest people on the planet would be way cooler than Musk.
