Don Lemon Reportedly Demanded $5 Million Advance, Tesla Cybertruck Before Elon Musk Canceled His Show
Former CNN employee Don Lemon reportedly made a litany of outrageous demands when negotiating a deal with Elon Musk for a new show on X.
After Lemon was dropped from CNN, he obtained a partnership with X to produce a show on Musk’s platform. As part of the inaugural episode, Musk sat down with Lemon for an interview. Lemon asked Musk questions about his ketamine usage and insinuated that Musk is a racist. In short, the interview did not go well.
Musk claimed that the show is “CNN on social media” and opted to cancel the deal before it was inked.
The New York Post claims that Don Lemon was asking for a Tesla Cybertruck, a $5 million advance, and equity in the company before the deal was nixed.
Lemon posted the interview between him and Musk to X anyway. The interview received a relatively small viewership relative to his following. Lemon now claims that Musk is suppressing the interview and is not an advocate for free speech.
The business account for X responded to Lemon’s accusations by stating that Lemon is welcome to post on the platform, though the company would prefer not to do business with him.
“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 X Business account said in part. “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.”
Lemon was fired from CNN in April of 2023 over allegations that he was mistreating colleagues during the network’s morning show.
