Don Lemon hosted his own CNN show for about eight years before being reassigned to a morning show last October. He is in danger of being reassigned to the unemployment line if a report of his bad behavior alleged by the New York Post gains traction.
Lemon reportedly confronted Kaitlan Collins, 30, after the December 8 episode of the morning show was broadcast. Lemon unleashed a tantrum, the Post reported, accusing Collins of interrupting him while they were on air. Collins and Poppy Harlow bracket Lemon on CNN’s morning show. The show has underperformed compared to competing morning offerings, ranking last in ratings.
“Don screamed at Kaitlan, who was visibly upset and ran out of the studio,” a source familiar with the situation said, according to the report.
CNN’s new CEO, Chris Licht, was reportedly appalled after he learned of Lemon’s alleged eruption, the report added.
The report noted Licht sent a morning show producer to counsel Lemon to calm down and suggest he take a personal day to “cool off.”
Former Fox News reporter Megyn Kelly declared she would have ended Lemon’s career if he treated her the way he allegedly treated Collins.
“If somebody ever screamed at me to the point where I was visibly upset and ran out of the studio, I would have that person fired,” Kelly said Friday during her SiriusXM podcast.
Kelly added Lemon had “better be careful” since his new show “is on its last legs before it even got on its first legs.”
The former Fox star praised Collins as a “competent reporter.” Kelly wondered whether Collins’ previous employment by Tucker Carlson’s conservative news site, the Daily Caller, created tension with the liberal Lemon.
Lemon confided to friends last summer he “didn’t like” that Collins worked for the Daily Caller before being hired by CNN to cover the Trump White House.
“She’s somebody I wonder whether the politics have anything to do with it,” Kelly said. “You can sense the tension [between Collins and Lemon].”
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