Don Lemon announced Wednesday that X owner Elon Musk has canceled the deal for his upcoming talk show on the platform. Lemon, a former CNN anchor, says Musk ended the partnership just hours after interviewing the multibillionaire for the show’s first episode.
“Elon Musk canceled the partnership I had with X, which they announced as part of their public commitment to empowering more diverse voices on their platform,” Lemon said. he wrote in a statement. “He informed me of his decision hours after an interview I did with him on Friday.”
Despite the canceled deal with X, “The Don Lemon Show” will go on. The interview with Musk will remain the show’s premiere episode and is scheduled to air March 18 on YouTube, podcast channels and X. Lemon, who was fired by CNN last year after 13 years with the company, says the episode will be “just the first of many”.
In a statement published on The company of X account, the company said that while Lemon’s show is “welcome to be published” on X, the social network has decided not to enter into a commercial partnership with her.
“The Don Lemon Show is welcome to publish its content on X, uncensored, as we believe we provide a platform for creators to scale their work and connect with new communities,” the statement read. “However, like any business, we reserve the right to make decisions regarding our business partnerships and after careful consideration, X has decided not to enter into a commercial partnership with the show.”
Musk said to his own post that the show’s “approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media,’ which isn’t working, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying.”
Lemon says Musk willingly agreed to the interview and that his questions were “respectful,” covering topics like SpaceX and the presidential election. He notes that the pair had a “good conversation,” but that Musk clearly felt differently.
Lemon’s show was one of the first original shows planned to launch on X as Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino sought to turn the social networking site into “Video First” platform. The episodes of the show were expected to air three times a week exclusively first on the platform. In January, X announced two other original shows alongside Lemon’s: one hosted by former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and one by former Fox Sports anchor Jim Rome.
