Don Lemon Says Elon Musk Canceled His Show on X After Tense Interview

Don Lemon says Elon Musk canceled his deal with X because Musk wasn’t happy with an interview the former CNN host did with him. 

Lemon said Musk informed him of the decision hours after his interview with the billionaire and owner of the social-media platform on Friday. Lemon said his questions were respectful and wide-ranging, though he described the interview as “tense at times.”

“We had a good conversation,” Lemon said. “Clearly he felt differently. His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me.”

Lemon’s interview with Musk touched on several topics including Musk’s ketamine use, the election cycle and his company SpaceX, according to a person familiar with the matter. Musk agreed to the interview with Lemon with no request for editorial control, the person said.

Lemon said he would still post the interview on X next week, and on other platforms, including YouTube. “Don has a deal with X and expects to be paid for it,” a spokesperson for Lemon said in a statement. “If we have to go to court we will.”

In a statement posted to X, Musk said Lemon “lacked authenticity.”
 

“His approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media’, which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying,” Musk said. “And, instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just Jeff Zucker talking through Don,” he added, referring to CNN’s former president.

CNN declined to comment. A representative for Zucker didn’t immediately comment.

Lemon left CNN in April, two months after he drew criticism on “CNN This Morning” for saying former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley wasn’t in her prime.

Once one of CNN’s most recognizable faces, Lemon had been at the network for 17 years, starting as a reporter in 2006. He began anchoring prime-time show “Don Lemon Tonight” in 2014 and moved to the morning show in 2022.

X said “The Don Lemon Show” is free to publish its content on X, without censorship. 

“However, like any enterprise, we reserve the right to make decisions about our business partnerships, and after careful consideration, X decided not to enter into a commercial partnership with the show,” the company said.

X, under Musk and Chief Executive Linda Yaccarino, has been trying to turn around the company’s business and deliver content that is palatable to advertisers. Many big brands have pulled advertising from X over concerns about hateful and objectionable content on the website.

Musk posted a tweet last year promoting antisemitic content, one that he later said was foolish. Still, it prompted more backlash and led to Musk using coarse language to criticize advertisers who left his platform. “If somebody’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money. Go f— yourself,” he said at a conference in November.
 

X had announced Lemon would host a show on its platform earlier this year. Lemon said in a video Wednesday that he picked Musk to be his first interview. “No-brainer, Elon Musk, the man who calls himself a free speech absolutist,” Lemon said in a video posted on X.

X had announced three new shows in January, including Lemon’s and one from former Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard. Vanessa Santos, a publicist for Gabbard, said the show is expected to launch in the next few weeks.

The company has been trying to get into more video and long-form content since Musk took over, including by welcoming former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to post videos on X after Carlson’s split from the cable news network. Fox’s parent company and The Wall Street Journal’s parent share common ownership.

Carlson subsequently launched his own streaming service, though he also said he would continue posting free content on X.

Lemon said in his statement Wednesday that his planned show will continue, saying that the Musk interview will be “just the first of many episodes” of “The Don Lemon Show.”

Write to Joseph Pisani at joseph.pisani@wsj.com, Isabella Simonetti at isabella.simonetti@wsj.com and Alexa Corse at alexa.corse@wsj.com