CNN Does The Lemon Drop

CNN and Don have parted ways. Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years. We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors.

— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) April 24, 2023

pic.twitter.com/8PyLqvS0d7

— Don Lemon (@donlemon) April 24, 2023

The news comes minutes after Fox News announced it was parting ways with host and Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson.

CNN Chairman and Chief Executive Chris Licht said in a companywide email on Monday that CNN and Lemon had parted ways.  He didn’t give a reason why Mr. Lemon was leaving.

“Don will forever be a part of the CNN family, and we thank him for his contributions over the past 17 years. We wish him well and will be cheering him on in his future endeavors,” Licht said in the email.

Lemon has been one of CNN’s most recognizable faces in recent years. He joined the network in 2006 as a reporter and then in 2014 he began anchoring the prime-time show “Don Lemon Tonight.” He switched to the morning side in November to co-host “CNN This Morning.”

He had a brief and controversial run on the morning show. He drew criticism for saying in February that Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley wasn’t in her prime as a 51-year-old woman. He and his co-anchors had been discussing Ms. Haley’s calls to test politicians for mental competency once they are older than 75.