Don Lemon Will Return to CNN on Wednesday After Uproar

Mr. Lemon will be absent from Tuesday’s broadcast of “CNN This Morning,” where he last appeared on Thursday, shortly after asserting on the air that Nikki Haley, the 51-year-old Republican presidential candidate, “isn’t in her prime, sorry.” He went on to say that “a woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.”

After his co-anchor Poppy Harlow pushed back, Mr. Lemon responded, “I’m just saying what the facts are,” and urged her to “Google it.”

Mr. Lemon, 56, had previously been scheduled to be off on Friday, and he was photographed over the weekend at a luxury resort in Miami Beach. But his failure to return on Monday morning raised speculation within television circles whether or not Mr. Lemon would return at all. A CNN spokesman said Mr. Lemon had decided to take off Presidents’ Day; his co-anchors, Ms. Harlow and Kaitlan Collins, both appeared on the show.

The outcry within CNN had already prompted Mr. Licht to rebuke Mr. Lemon on an editorial call on Friday morning in which he called the anchor’s remarks “upsetting, unacceptable and unfair.” He then handed off the call to Mr. Lemon, who spoke for six minutes and said, “I am sorry. I did not mean to hurt anyone.”

A CNN spokesman said on Monday night that “the company has a number of resources and Don is committed to our recommendation.” The spokesman declined to elaborate further, saying the network did not comment on personnel matters.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/20/business/media/don-lemon-cnn.html