Don Lemon Accused Of Misogyny, Bullying Female Coworkers, And "Diva-Like Behavior" At CNN

In February, Don Lemon shocked many viewers when he criticized 2024 Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley for being "past her prime." She's 51 years old, and he claimed that women are only in their prime until their 40s at the very latest. "Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime. Sorry, when a woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s, and 30s, and maybe 40s," he said. "It depends, just like 'prime,' if you look it up. If you Google it, when is a woman in her prime, it'll say 20s, 30s and 40s. I'm not saying I agree with that."

His female cohosts appeared to be uncomfortable with the comment, and the backlash was even worse. Even left-leaning media publications called him out on his insulting language. Lemon never addressed the comments on air and he just kept hosting his show as usual. But Variety has just released a report detailing many experiences from coworkers who report Lemon's alleged history of bullying, misogyny, and inappropriately dating younger employees at CNN.

Don Lemon Accused of Misogyny, Bullying Female Coworkers, and "Diva-Like Behavior" at CNN

Lemon, who is gay, allegedly had a history of breaking rules at work in which he would date junior employees, including a 22-year-old when he was 41 years old. Variety reports that he "began openly dating a fresh-out-of-college staffer despite a major age difference and power imbalance." The two would drive to work together in Lemon's car and had a "long-term open relationship." One senior executive said, "As fast as you could make a rule, Don would bend it."

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. In 2008, a former female co-anchor Kyra Phillips was sent a series of threatening messages by Lemon that resulted in an HR investigation. Phillips and Lemon were hosting "Live From" every weekday and there was much tension that would even result in a newsroom supervisor pulling Lemon off the air during a commercial break because of the way he would taunt Phillips. She was eventually assigned to report in Iraq, which was a coveted position that Lemon desperately wanted, and sources say he would express his jealousy by "tearing up pictures and notes on top of an inside Phillips' desk in the news pod they shared."

He subsequently sent her a text message from an unknown number (which was traced back to him), "Now you've crossed the line, and you're going to pay for it."

Even after he was identified as the sender of that message and an HR investigation was launched, nothing happened and he continued working at CNN as an anchor. He was also accused of disrespecting colleague Nancy Grace on air and Soledad O'Brien in an editorial meeting with 30 people in attendance. But still, nothing happened.

Former CNN consultant Goldie Taylor used to appear as a guest on Lemon's weekend show, but she said she was blacklisted for calling out Lemon for his inappropriate comments.

“I’m never surprised when Don gets in trouble,” she told Variety. “It makes me neither happy nor sad to see him undermine his own success. There was a time when it appeared that black people were most often the subject of his ire. Now, it seems to me that when he says something offensive, there’s almost always a woman on the other side.”

In 2014, he told a survivor of sexual assault at the hands of Bill Cosby that she could have just stopped the harassment if she just bit his penis. Just last year, he rudely accused a commentator on air if she had "mommy brain" because she couldn't remember a specific statistic about Republicans.

Lemon has also been accused of "diva-like behavior" such as refusing to show up for editorial calls, showing up late, or "just generally exhibiting disengaged behavior." Variety reports that in 2009, CNN sent one journalist to the Staples Center to cover Michael Jackson's memorial. They selected Lemon but Anderson Cooper was anchoring outside the memorial. He allegedly complained on social media that Cooper got more airtime than he did.

When Jeff Zucker was hired to run CNN in 2013, Lemon was more protected than ever. Zucker kept Lemon on staff even though he fired Chris Cuomo for advising his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, on his sexual harassment allegations. People expected Lemon to be fired after Zucker left in 2022, but he remained on staff. Allegedly, he is being forced to go through "formal training" about his behavior, especially towards women, but it doesn't seem like his actions will change anytime soon and he will likely continue along with his job at CNN. It seems like even progressives aren't willing to put up with Lemon's antics anymore, regardless of how much their politics align.