CNN to pay Don Lemon $24.5 Million after firing him last year

News anchor, Don Lemon and CNN have reportedly reached a financial agreement after he was fired last year.

After 17 years with CNN, the longtime anchor announced his firing from the network in an X post in April 2023. “I was informed this morning by my agent I have been terminated by CNN. I am stunned,” Lemon wrote.

Shortly after Lemon’s post, CNN’s public relations team released a counter statement, accusing Lemon of misrepresenting what occurred.

“Don Lemon’s statement about this morning’s events is inaccurate,” CNN Communications tweeted. “He was offered an opportunity to meet with management but instead released a statement on Twitter.”

The former CNN anchor and the media company reached a separation deal that would pay Lemon approximately $24.5 million and the total is reportedly the amount of money Lemon, 57, was set to receive if his final contract ended in 3 and a half years.

The journalist’s separation from the network followed his exit from the CNN This Morning show. In February 2023, Lemon received backlash for comments he made about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley being “past her prime.”

He made his remarks on the politician’s age during a segment on the show with co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins.

After the Haley comment, Lemon publicly apologized, “agreed to participate in formal training” and was back on air after less than a week.

Two months later, Lemon conducted a confrontational interview with Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, which reportedly left “several CNN leaders exasperated”.

In July 2023, Lemon broke his silence in an interview with Rudy Williams of ABC24.

“I have a responsibility not only as a journalist, but as an American, to tell the truth,” Lemon said. “And to abide by the promises of the Constitution, because the Constitution says a more perfect union. Not a perfect union.”

 

“I’m not a perfect person. No one is,” Lemon added. “In order to fulfil the promise of the Constitution, we have to stand up for what is right. We have to stand up for the truth.”