Elon Musk has cancelled journalist Don Lemon’s contract with X after the former CNN anchor reportedly asked about the billionaire’s alleged usage of ketamine in an interview. Musk has previously denied using any form of illegal drug.
Earlier this year, Lemon signed a multi-million dollar deal with Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to host a new program called The Don Lemon Show.
At the time, Lemon praised X for being the “biggest space for free speech in the world. I know now more than ever that we need a place for honest debate and discussion without the hall monitors.”
However, according to tech reporter Kara Swisher, Musk has since decided to terminate Lemon’s contract following an interview last Friday (March 8) “that was not to [Musk’s] liking, including questions about his ketamine use”.
Lemon confirmed the news in a statement on Wednesday (March 13), saying that he was informed that Musk was terminating his contract just hours after the interview took place.
“There were no restrictions on the interview that he willingly agreed to, and my questions were respectful and wide ranging,” Lemon added. “We had a good conversation. Clearly he felt differently. His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me.”
Lemon went on to say that he still intends to release his interview with Musk on Monday (March 18), and it will be available on YouTube, X, and various podcast platforms.
In a statement, X wrote: “The Don Lemon Show is welcome to publish its content on X, without censorship, as we believe in providing a platform for creators to scale their work and connect with new communities. However, like any enterprise, we reserve the right to make decisions about our business partnerships, and after careful consideration, X decided not to enter into a commercial partnership with the show.”
In his own post, Musk justified the termination by claiming that “[Lemon’s] approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media’, which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying. And, instead of it being the real Don Lemon, it was really just [former CNN president] Jeff Zucker talking through Don, so lacked authenticity. All this said, Lemon/Zucker are of course welcome to build their viewership on this platform along with everyone else.”
In other news, Musk recently lost out on a $56billion Tesla pay package after a judge deemed it unfair to shareholders.