X owner Elon Musk is defending his decision to cut ties with former CNN anchor Don Lemon; Musk decided to back out of a deal with Lemon after he was interviewed by the struggling anchor.
Musk shared his thoughts on the split on X.
“His approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media’, which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying,” Musk told an X user Wednesday. “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.”
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…
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 13, 2024
From Fox News:
A spokesperson for Lemon leveled a legal threat towards X, telling Puck News, “Don has a deal with X and expects to be paid for it. If we have to go to court we will.”
X announced in January that it had inked a deal with Lemon, along with other talent, to produce content on the platform.
But that came to a crashing halt on Wednesday for Lemon, after the former CNN star had interviewed Musk on Friday as his inaugural guest on “The Don Lemon Show,” which was set to launch next week.
“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,” Lemon wrote in a statement posted on social media.
More over at Fox News:
Elon Musk defends cutting Don Lemon’s X deal: His approach was ‘CNN, but on social media’ which ‘doesn’t work’ https://t.co/UyngRjCD5y
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 14, 2024