Don Lemon, former CNN anchor, has announced that his partnership with Elon Musk has ended after a 90-minute sit-down with the billionaire. The interview took place on the X platform, where Lemon asked Musk about the rise in hate speech on the platform and his responsibility to moderate hateful content. Musk responded that he didn’t have to answer questions from reporters, but the interview was conducted because Lemon was on the platform and asked for it.
Lemon also asked Musk about a recent meeting he held with former President Donald Trump. Musk denied asking for money and said he was not paying his legal bills. He also mentioned Musk’s open use of the drug ketamine, which he said was not a problem for his government security clearance.
X defended Musk’s decision to pull the plug on its agreement with Lemon, stating that the Don Lemon Show is welcome to publish its content without censorship. However, a spokesperson for Lemon told CNN that he expects Musk to honor the financial terms of the agreement.
Lemon technically had not inked a contract with X, but contracts do not necessarily have to be signed to be legally binding. According to people close to the matter, Lemon’s camp is confident that a deal had been struck, as evidenced by the fact that X had touted the deal in public announcements earlier this year.
Musk has claimed to believe in free speech absolutism, but he has repeatedly taken steps to limit the speech of critics. Last year, Musk endorsed an antisemitic conspiracy theory, leading to advertisers fleeing X.