California Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna and others defended anchor Don Lemon over an explosive interview with a GOP candidate that may have resulted in his firing by CNN.
Monday saw a stunning cable news bloodbath, as Fox News fired top-rated host Tucker Carlson without warning — then within minutes, news broke that CNN was firing longtime anchor and central pillar of their morning program in an equally shocking fashion. Lemon had been the nucleus of CNN This Morning, the morning show he co-anchored with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins.
In Lemon’s case, the final straw was reportedly an intense segment in which Lemon called out GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy over a series of misleading assertions about Black history.
The shocking firing drew celebratory victory dances from high-profile critics like former President Donald Trump and former Trump UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, but other high-profile figures rallied to Lemon’s defense, specifically on the issue of the interview with Ramaswamy.
Khanna was among those who sided with Lemon, writing on Twitter, “Don Lemon was right. As an Indian American, I was profoundly embarrassed by Vivek lecturing a Black man about Black history. The truth is that the Black civil rights movement paved the way for the 1965 immigration act so that Vivek’s family or mine could come to America. We owe a huge debt.”
Former NAACP head Professor Cornell Williams Brooks wrote that Lemon “is guilty here of being a journalist—getting tough on a guest who’s loose and/or lying about FACTS. For centuries, the plain facts of Black History have been twisted into nooses of falsehood. Why in 2023 Lemon is expected to accept being insulted and lied to?”
Prominent Black sports journalist Jemele Hill similarly praised Lemon’s interview, writing “So Don Lemon got fired for … doing his job?”
Others joined in praising Lemon’s interview and denouncing the firing:
Watch the interview above via CNN This Morning.
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