Out gay former CNN host Don Lemon recently alleged that he was sexually harassed by multiple women and men while working for the network. CNN fired Lemon in 2023 after he was widely criticized for sexist remarks about Nikki Haley.
“Now look, there are some things that are really egregious, but not everything is Harvey Weinstein-level,” Lemon said during an appearance on HBO host Bill Maher’s podcast, Club Random.
Related
Fox News covered Trump’s anti-trans orders twice as much as CNN & MSNBC. That’s bad.
A new study reveals that a majority of trans news coverage completely excludes trans & nonbinary voices.
He shared one example of a “young lady” who he alleged playfully “tweaked my nipples” while saying, “Oh, it’s cold in here!” in the CNN cafeteria.
Stay connected to your community
Connect with the issues and events that impact your community at home and beyond by subscribing to our newsletter.
Subscribe to our Newsletter today
“I said, ‘OK, you realize if I did that they’d be walking me out the door right now?’ But I didn’t care to go to HR. I didn’t say anything because I was just like, it’s a double standard, it’s fine.”
He also said a woman who knew he was gay harassed him more than once at work events outside the office while he “was so new there.”
“And it was bizarre,” Lemon said.
“She was going through a divorce, it was just weird. And I never went to management. First of all, I thought, like, ‘OK, they may find a way to get rid of me because if I told this story, I don’t know if they’re going to believe me or not. But then she was so mean to me after that, I was like, ‘I should’ve told the story.'”
He explained the context of the harassment as well: “Remember, this was a while ago, and there was no Uber or anything like that. If you’re in Atlanta, the taxis aren’t available. And so you say, ‘Hey, we have had a couple drinks, do you mind if I like’… ‘No, no, no, don’t go home, stay in the guest room.’ That sort of thing.”
Lemon said he never felt the need to go to HR because he knew, as a man, he had more power than he would have otherwise. “I’m an adult, and maybe I think it is different for men and women, depending on the power structure. I think it’s flattering as long as you can send them off easily. As a man, I could say, ‘No, I’m not interested.’”
“And you know, like, who has the power. I figure, as a man, I have the power to say, ‘I don’t want to.’ I don’t need to go to HR or ruin your career. I just tell you, ‘I’m not interested in this. You were drunk. We had a couple of drinks or whatever. Let’s let it go.’”
In April 2023, Lemon was booted from CNN after months of controversies involving a series of sexist comments and alleged behind-the-scenes misogyny toward women colleagues. He joined CNN in 2006 and hosted Don Lemon Tonight from 2014 to 2022. In 2022, he co-hosted the network’s new show CNN This Morning with Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow.
In 2023, he faced intense scrutiny after he said former South Carolina Gov. and then-Trump administration official Nikki Haley was past her “prime” after she announced her presidential campaign. The comments were widely panned as misogynist.
The controversial comments followed others he made in December 2022 on the same show, where he said that male athletes should make more money than female athletes because there is more interest in men’s sports.
After Harlow pushed back and said that women’s sports don’t get the same coverage or sponsorships that men’s sports get, Lemon doubled down and said he can’t be sexist because there were a lot of women in his family.
“I’m not sexist,” he said. “I grew up the only boy in a family of all women. I understand what you’re saying, but not everybody honestly has the same skill – not everybody has the same interest in the sport.”
At the time, Variety also reported on Lemon’s history of clashing with female colleagues, dating back to 2008 when he co-anchored CNN’s Live From with Kyra Phillips.
Subscribe to the LGBTQ Nation newsletter and be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.