Smollet Testifies He Got Warning From CNN's Don Lemon

Daily Mail screenshot 12/7/21

CNN faces a fresh scandal days after firing Chris Cuomo after Empire star Jussie Smollett claimed host Don Lemon had texted him details of a police investigation into a hate crime Smollett now stands accused of faking. 

Don Lemon allegedly texted the former TV star shortly after he claims he was attacked in Chicago in February 2019, to say that Chicago's Police Department wasn't taking his allegations seriously. 

Smollett made the claim while giving evidence on Monday. Lemon and CNN have yet to comment on the allegation. 

Lemon's alleged meddling in the aftermath of Smollett's hate crime, which is now under investigating due to incongruences in his testimony, comes just days after the media giant fired Chris Cuomo over his involvement in defending his disgraced brother from sexual assault allegations. 

Testifying in court on Monday, Smollet, 39, claimed he had been in contact with CNN's Don Lemon during the early stages of the CPD investigation. In a remark that was presented and then struck from the record, he said things began to seem off when he received a text message from Lemon claiming the Chicago police had reached out to him to say they didn't believe Smollett. 

Lemon's journalistic ethics are now being questioned amid reignited reports in November from a man claiming he was sexually assaulted by Lemon three years ago in a Hamptons bar.