The former CNN anchor went on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' to speak about his recent arrest stemming from his reporting of an anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church.
By Carly Thomas
Don Lemon is speaking out following his arrest last week over his reporting of an anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church last month.
The former CNN anchor and journalist went on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday, where he shared that he’s doing “OK” after the arrest, adding, “I’m not going to let them steal my joy, but this is very serious. I mean, these are federal criminal charges.”
Host Jimmy Kimmel asked in a follow-up question, “Is there a difference between whether those protesters had the right to go into a church and whether a credentialed journalist like yourself had the right to go in and cover them going into the church?”
“I’m in the middle of this, so I can’t say a lot,” Lemon replied. “There’s a lot that I cannot say, but what I will say is that I’m not a protester. I went there to be a journalist. I went there to chronicle and document and record what was happening. I was following that one group around. And so that’s what I did. I reported on them. But I do think that there is a difference between a protester and a journalist.”
After Lemon recalled details of how his arrest went down in Los Angeles, Kimmel jokingly asked, “Who did you make your one phone call to?”
“Here’s the interesting thing. I didn’t have a ‘one phone call,'” the journalist confirmed. “I asked them, ‘Do I get my one phone call, Jimmy?’ They said, ‘No, you don’t. You get to talk to your attorney whenever the court says that you can.’ And so that wasn’t until the next day,” following his night in a holding room.
Later in his chat with Kimmel, Lemon also thanked “everybody for all of their support, especially the journalists, especially the people out there. I mean, it’s been amazing just walking down the street or wherever I am and people will say, ‘It’s good to see you.’ I said, ‘Yeah, it’s good to be seen,’ but it’s a lot of support.”
Last week, Lemon was arrested following his reporting of an anti-ICE protest that took place in a Minnesota church during Sunday services on Jan. 18. He shared videos on his social media accounts of him interviewing protesters before they interrupted the service, chanting “ICE out” and demanding justice for Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent last month. One of the church officials also allegedly worked at a local ICE office.
The former CNN anchor was charged with violating federal laws by allegedly crossing a line from activity protected by the First Amendment to impeding others’ rights to practice their religious beliefs.
Following his arrest, Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, shared in a statement at the time, “Don has been a journalist for 30 years, and his constitutionally protected work in Minneapolis was no different than what he has always done. The First Amendment exists to protect journalists whose role it is to shine light on the truth and hold those in power accountable. There is no more important time for people like Don to be doing this work.”
During a hearing at a downtown Los Angeles courthouse on Jan. 30, a judge allowed Lemon to be released on a no money bond. Lemon’s attorney said he later intends to plead not guilty.
Once videos of the protesters interrupting the church service started circulating on social media, some people quickly criticized it, including rapper Nicki Minaj, who has publicly aligned herself with President Donald Trump in recent months.
She even called Lemon a homophobic slur over his reports on ICE protests, to which the former anchor snapped back at Minaj, calling her a “homophobic, bigoted, ignorant woman.”
