Billionaire Elon Musk scrapped ousted former CNN host Don Lemon’s partnership with X before it even began.
During an interview, Lemon backed Musk into a corner after asking the social media CEO questions about hate speech on his platform.
In a clip from the interview, Musk appears to snap back at Lemon after repeated attempts to pin the billionaire down on accusations that he is inciting fears of a “Great Replacement Theory” resulting from a surge in illegal immigrants storming the U.S.- southern border.
Lemon previously accused Musk of supporting the idea that the Democratic Party is using the arrival of illegal aliens as a way to bank on anti-White illegal immigrant voters ahead of the 2024 election.
Lemon said that “[Musk] doesn’t understand that sort of rhetoric he talks about, the Great Replacement Theory and a migrant invasion, that’s what radicalized shooters use in their manifestos.”
However, Musk put Lemon in his rightfully so place.
“I don’t have to answer these questions [about the Great Replacement Theory,] Musk said. “I don’t have to answer questions from reporters. Don, the only reason I’m doing this interview is because you’re on the X platform and you asked for it. Otherwise, I would not do this interview.”
“Do you think you wouldn’t get in trouble or you wouldn’t be criticized for these things?” Lemon asked.
“I’m criticized constantly, I could care less,” Musk responded.
Just hours later, Musk announced that he would be canceling Lemon’s partnership with X over the interview.
In defense of his decision, Musk suggested that Lemon’s channel on the social media platform would be just another arm of CNN.
🍋 is welcome to monetize on this platform, just like everyone else.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 14, 2024
What we aren’t going to do is guarantee minimum payments to him, as he was demanding, which would be going beyond everyone else!
Unfortunately, all 🍋 wants to do is rehash the dying CNN business model “but…
“His approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media’, which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying," Musk wrote on X. “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.”
Elon Musk canceled #TheDonLemonShow👀
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) March 13, 2024
Watch on YouTube and listen everywhere on Monday March 18. pic.twitter.com/AAhnvcY0ny
"Elon publicly encouraged me to join X with a new show, saying I would have his ‘full support,’ and that his ‘digital town square is for all.’ He and his team pursued the deal in numerous conversations and made significant commitments about the support X would provide for the show. I made the decision to work with them in a unique partnership that I believed would ultimately assure that my work would be available to most people, in the largest possible venue. I took Elon and his management’s team’s word that they, for the first time, were interested in working directly with new and diverse voices," Lemon wrote in a statement following Musk's announced.