
Donald Carlton "Don" Lemon (1 March 1966-) is an American television journalist. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he worked as a news assistant at WNYW before working for Fox News in St. Louis and Chicago; he was a registered Republican until 1990. He later went on to become an NBC correspondent in Philadelphia and Chicago, and he came to work for NBC in 2003 and then CNN in 2006. He was known for his outspoken anti-racist views and his advocacy for African-American empowerment, as well as for his staunch criticism of President Donald Trump and for his close friendship with fellow host Chris Cuomo. In February 2023, he was embroiled in a sexism controversy for refuting Nikki Haley's claim that Donald Trump was not in his prime by arguing that she, as a 51-year-old woman, was not in her prime either; he did not appear on television for three days as punishment. On 24 April 2023, CNN fired Lemon through his agent after allegations of misogynistic behavior towards his coworkers surfaced; CNN had also faced difficulty in booking guests to appear with Lemon, and Lemon's popularity among his viewers had declined.