Don Lemon Returns to TV with a Surprise New Look, But the Same Inability to Tell the Truth
He’s looking a little worse for wear these days, and his ability to tell the truth hasn’t gotten much better either.
Don Lemon, the one-time veteran CNN host whose stint ended at the network with his abrupt dismissal in April, made his first return to broadcast television over the weekend with an interview blasting his longtime employer
In the process, he proved why Americans never should have taken him seriously in the first place.
In his interview with WATN-TV, in Memphis, Lemon tried to paint himself as an unflagging devotee of accuracy. But all he really did was illustrate that he was only interested in using his fame and television presence to push his own worldview.
“I don’t believe in platforming liars and bigots, and, you know, insurrectionists and election deniers and putting them on the same footing as people who are telling the truth — people who are fighting for what’s right, people who are abiding by the Constitution,” he told WATN.
“I think that would be a dereliction of journalistic duty to do those sorts of things.
“That is what has gotten me to this point, and that is what is going to carry me forward.”
It didn’t go down well.
“He is not a journalist he is a liberal mouthpiece,” as one Twitter user put it.
Don Lemon touts ‘abiding by the Constitution’ in first TV interview since firing: ‘Journalistic duty’https://t.co/FftgIr0L7H
He is not a journalist he is a liberal mouthpiece— 5.56maxtip (@trick1us) June 25, 2023
Actually, branding anyone who disagrees with you a “liar” or a “bigot” — and thinking news coverage should be determined accordingly is pretty much the definition of “dereliction of journalistic duty.”
But that’s where the leftist establishment media outlets like CNN and MSNBC — along with their fuzzier versions in the broadcast networks — have brought the American news media.
Anyone who was familiar with Lemon’s incessant attacks on Donald Trump, as a presidential candidate and as president knew Lemon had no interest in presenting the American people with a balanced picture of the man in the White House.
His career in the post-Trump years — pretending any American with a legitimate question about the obvious irregularities of the 2020 presidential election is an “election denier,” that “insurrectionists” were behind the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol incursion — showed that he hadn’t changed a bit. (Claiming Trump supporters need to be “deprogrammed” like refugees from a cult was one of Lemon’s classic moments of “truth.”)
Even his demotion to “CNN This Morning,” where his openly leftist politics, overweening ego and poor treatment of his colleagues’ ego made headlines more frequently than anything substantive that might have happened on camera, didn’t change his style.
His racially blinkered, arrogant treatment of Vivek Ramaswamy, a successful businessman and contender for the Republican 2020 nomination was a case in point.
Whatever any viewer might have thought of Ramaswamy’s chances in a primary campaign that includes Trump as the frontrunner and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as an attention-magnet second place, they had a right to make that decision without Lemon’s needlessly combative, hectoring, “I’m black, you’re not” tone in a debate over gun control.
That made it all about Lemon, as Lemon’s broadcasts usually did. Remember his comments about former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, a one-time ambassador to the United Nations who is also seeking the Republican presidential nomination?
Most recall Lemon’s boorishness in speaking about Haley’s “prime” years — and the “prime” years of women in general. Few likely remember it was in the context of Haley’s opinion that political candidates over a certain age should have to take cognitive tests to prove they’re up to the job.
Lemon, in other words, might be sporting new facial hair that he might think makes him look distinguished but his misguided view of the world, American politics, and himself haven’t changed a bit. And social media users let him know it:
He wasn’t fired for telling the truth. He was fired because nobody was listening to his lies.
— It’s us against them and we’re the many. (@thedownliner) June 26, 2023
Now that’s funny! He can’t “stand up for the truth” if it hit him in the face. Let him tout
— kelraff (@kelraff) June 26, 2023
Don Lemon has officially become a parody of himself
— kyleb557 (@nytisfailing) June 26, 2023
Meanwhile, the new look isn’t winning rave reviews either. Lemon doesn’t look as much like a man with a trim goatee as he does an 18-year-old determined to sport facial hair he doesn’t have the ability to grow.
And that gray doesn’t help matters either. Take away the jacket and tie and Lemon could be one of those guys on a New York subway talking on the “phone” to a banana in his ear.
Don Lemon got fired, and it aged him 37 years. https://t.co/pW4Wx3uG58
— Brenden Dilley (@WarlordDilley) June 26, 2023
All in all, as returns to the spotlight goes, Lemon was just continuing his losing streak.
In the interview, he said he is in no “rush” to make a decision about his career. And doesn’t really have to make any decision at all. According to the New York Post, Lemon could be collecting $25 million from CNN for ending his employment.
Whatever he does, though, Americans should be thinking twice before taking him seriously again.
He’s already proven that, time and time again.
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