Ousted CNN commentator Don Lemon raged at Piers Morgan for ‘ambushing him’ with a clip of the moment that led to his demise at the network.
Lemon said he agreed to appear on Piers Morgan Uncensored to discuss censorship and cancel culture in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s assassination.
But instead, the commentator claims he was blindsided by his own 2023 departure from television screens.
“You never mentioned that we were going to discuss CNN or anything related. Had I known, I likely would have reconsidered agreeing to this interview,” he told Morgan sharply.
Morgan had aired a snippet of his disastrous 2023 spiel in which he said women who were older than 40 years old were ‘past their prime.’
The remarks angered both staff members and viewers, leading to reports that his co-hosts, Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins, walked off the set in protest.
These comments arose during a conversation about presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s proposal for mandatory mental competency tests for politicians aged 75 and older.
Lemon expressed his frustration to Morgan: “I expected you to discuss the topics we agreed upon instead of unexpectedly bringing this up.”
‘I don’t appreciate being ambushed here.’
Ousted CNN commentator Don Lemon raged at Piers Morgan for ‘ambushing him’ with a clip of the moment that led to his demise at the network
He had participated in Piers Morgan Uncensored intending to address censorship and cancel culture following Charlie Kirk’s incident, only to feel caught off guard by questions about his own 2023 TV exit.
Morgan clarified that he hadn’t been personally in contact with Lemon, and asked if Lemon was instead referring to his producers and booking team.
Lemon responded indignantly, “This is entirely misleading. I won’t argue with you. Could you please stop interrupting and let me finish?”
As the pair began talking over the top of one another, Lemon interjected: ‘Did you invite me here just to interrupt me?’
Morgan responded: ‘I think you’re being a complete d**k if I’m honest with you.’
‘Here you are getting enraged about me exercising my right to free speech to ask you a few questions,’ Morgan added.
Lemon hit back: ‘I’m not enraged. I’m not enraged at all!’
Lemon has addressed his dismissal from CNN before. Just a few days after he was fired, Lemon told Extra TV at the Time 100 gala that he was ‘stunned’ to learn of his termination after being a network staple for 17 years, but doesn’t have any ‘regrets.’
‘I live my life with no regrets. I did what I did and I own it, and so no, I don’t look back and I don’t want to change things in the past,’ he told the outlet.
Morgan had aired a snippet of his disastrous 2023 spiel in which he said women who were older than 40 years old were ‘past their prime’
‘There are lots of things that come your way that are unexpected, but I’m a survivor. I come from strong, sturdy stock in Louisiana and a lot of people are rooting for me and who love me.
‘Life goes on. That’s behind me and we’ll see what happens in the future.’
He drew the ire of female viewers and his co-hosts when he said Haley, who is five years younger than him, should tread lightly on the topic of mental competancy tests for older candidates because ‘a woman is in their prime in 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.’
Harlow and Collins responded with incredulity to the comment, only for Lemon to double down and insist that if viewers ‘Google it’ they would see he was right.
Both co-anchors reportedly stormed off the set after the segment, and Lemon’s position at the network was cast into doubt as staffers and viewers alike called for his sacking.
Lemon (pictured at The Morning Show premiere this month) was furious at Morgan for not letting him know that he intended to bring up the CNN incident
Sources inside CNN told DailyMail.com at the time females told management to pick between them and Lemon, saying ‘if Don doesn’t go, others have threatened to quit.’
‘People are hurt by his actions and are not going to let this go. It is like every woman over 50 in America has taken this as a personal insult. The female staffers at CNN definitely have. He needs to make his vacation a permanent one,’ the source said.
Lemon was not ousted at the time however, and instead was forced to deliver an apology to staffers, saying ‘What I said came out wrong and I wish I hadn’t said it. I believe women of any age can do anything they set their minds to. The people I am closest to in this organization are women.’
