CNN Pays Don Lemon $24.5M To Go Away

Don Lemon has agreed to a $24.5 million separation deal with CNN, individuals with knowledge of the deal exclusively told TheWrap. That price tag equates the full, complete pay from his final contract, which extended 3.5 years beyond his April 2023 ousting.

Lemon first got in the crosshairs with CNN brass when they moved him off his popular “Don Lemon Tonight” primetime show to the revamped “CNN This Morning” in fall 2022.

But the real inciting incident came in February 2023 when he startled female cohosts Caitlin Collins and Poppy Harlow by saying Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, at age 51, was past her prime.

“Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime, sorry,” Lemon said to a visibly bristling Collins and Harlow. “When a woman is considered to be in her prime — in her 20s, 30s and maybe her 40s.”

Lemon soon apologized for the comments and resumed his “CNN This Morning” cohosting duties the next week after participating in “formal training.” But the network dismissed the journalist later that spring.