Don Lemon claims he was sexually harassed during his tenure at CNN.
The former Don Lemon Tonight host detailed two alleged incidents during his time at the network in an interview on the Sunday, March 16, episode of the “Club Random With Bill Maher” podcast. Lemon worked for CNN from 2006 through 2023 when he was fired.
“I have been harassed by women and men in the [workplace]. It’s ridiculous,” Lemon, 59, told Maher early on in their conversation. “There are some things that are really egregious, but not everything is Harvey Weinstein level.”
Lemon, who is openly gay, continued, “I remember when I was in Atlanta and I was in the cafeteria [at CNN]. … This young lady tweaked my nipples and said, ‘Oh, it’s cold in here.’ I said, ‘OK, you realize that if I did that they’d be walking me out the door right now?’”
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The television journalist said he “didn’t care to go to HR, I didn’t say anything, because it’s a double standard.”
On another occasion, Lemon alleged that a female coworker propositioned him when he spent the night at her house following a work function. He said he had been offered to stay in a spare room following the event, noting that, at the time, there weren’t readily available taxi services such as Uber.
“I never told this story. Someone who I worked with also harassed me at CNN and I never went to management,” Lemon said. “First of all, I was so new there. She knew I was gay. It was just bizarre. She was going through a divorce … it was weird.”
“I never went to management. First of all, I thought, ‘OK, they may find a way to get rid of me because if I told this story, I don’t know if they’re gonna believe me or not,’” he continued. “But then she was so mean to me after that, I was like, ‘I should have told the story.’”
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Us Weekly has reached out to CNN for comment.
Lemon also said he was molested as a child, which he felt prepared him to deal with unwanted attention as an adult.
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“I know how to say [no],” he said. “You know how to deal with it and you know what’s important or not. And you know who has the power. As a man I have the power to say, ‘I don’t want to do this.’ I don’t need to go to HR and ruin your career. I just tell you, ‘I’m not interested, miss. We were drunk. We had a couple of drinks or whatever. Let’s let it go.’”
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In April 2023, Lemon was fired by CNN after 17 years at the cable news network. “Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years,” then-CNN CEO Chris Licht told staff in a memo at the time. “We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
