Former CNN star Don Lemon was met with ire from a mouthy passerby during a man-on-the-street-style interview in Manhattan.

‘You’re a f**king moron, dude,’ the man is seen telling the 59-year-old journalist in the viral clip, which was filmed Sunday.

Lemon, clearly surprised, responds with: ‘Thank you. So are you,’ before an evidently tense confrontation occurs right in the heart of New York’s East Village.

Seconds before, Lemon had approached the man randomly while filming a livestream.

The two shook hands, at first, and appeared to speak through clenched teeth as the unnamed man addressed Lemon’s retaliation.

‘Except you haven’t listened to anything I’ve said, and I’ve had to listen to plenty of what you’ve said,’ the person tells Lemon in the footage, before letting go and moving in closer to face the reporter. 

A seemingly baffled Lemon, at this point, says: ‘I’m glad you watch me’ – to which his guest clarifies, ‘No, I don’t!’

The man goes on to explain how he felt as though he’d been repeatedly bombarded with Lemon’s presence at every turn.

Former CNN star Don Lemon was met with curse words from a pedestrian during a man-on-the-street-style interview in Manhattan on Sunday

Lemon, 59, worked for CNN for 17 years before his firing in April 2023. He’s seen here on the network as a guest last year

‘You just get censored everywhere,’ he claims, divulging that he used to tune into channels like CNN and MSNBC – until realizing, according to him, that both were ‘full of s**t.’

Lemon was fired by CNN in 2023 after 17 years in April 2023, weeks after saying on-air that women over 40 were past their prime.

He appeared to seize the opportunity this time around, asking the man why he believed his old network and its rival were deceivers.

The man responds: ‘Cause they lie’ – leading Lemon to ask for examples.

‘Well, they lie about genocide,’ the man says. ‘They lie about all wars.’

Lemon disputes the answer, leading his guest to lose his temper even more.

‘Don’t tell me when I can speak,’ he says, wagging his finger in Lemon’s face while accusing the networks of offering favorable coverage to Israel.

At this point, the man slammed Lemon – again – as a ‘moron.’ 

‘Don’t tell me when I can speak,’ the man says at a point, wagging his finger in Lemon’s face 

When asked why he kept repeating the insult, the man replies: ‘Because it just comes out, man.

‘Because you’re big and think that you’re something.’

‘And what do you think you are?’ Lemon goes on to ask.

‘Oh, I’m just me,’ the man answers. ‘You’ve had a platform.’

The argument persisted from there.

It was worsened when a passerby jumped to the man’s defense.

He randomly referred to Lemon as a ‘racist’ while walking past – to which Lemon shouted: ‘Yeah, don’t waste your time with me, I’m a racist.’

Lemon invited him to speak as well, but the man refused.

Following the altercation, the first man attempted to walk away with one parting insult to Lemon: ‘Don – go find a library.’

The CNN journalist generated notable discomfort on CNN in February 2023 when he criticized 51-year-old Nikki Haley’s idea that politicians 75 and older should be subject to mental competency tests, prompting co-hosts Poppy Harlow (left) and Kaitlan Collins (right) to leave the set.

Lemon, visibly annoyed, answered, ‘Hey, let me tell you. Go find a life,’ while chasing the man down.

The altercation ended there, as Lemon, turning away, told his viewers the man was ‘drunk’.

‘That was fun,’ he says in the original stream. ‘I like that.

‘I know it is beneath me. I shouldn’t have argued with that guy, but that’s okay. I like it. It’s fun.’

Lemon and CNN went their separate ways in early 2023, following swift public backlash over perceived sexist comments about then GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley. 

‘Nikki Haley is not in her prime. Sorry, a woman is in her prime in her 20s, 30s, and maybe 40s,’ he said to co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins at the time.

‘Are you talking about prime for, like, childbearing? Or are you talking about prime for being president?’ Harlow, 40, asked, to which Lemon responded: ‘Don’t shoot the messenger, I’m just saying what the facts are.’

He added: ‘Google it. Everybody at home, when is a woman in her prime? It says 20s, 30s and 40s.’ 

Spurring an apology from the anchor hours later, the comments also caused Harlow to take a ‘well-timed’ bathroom break, followed closely by Collins, 31. The two came back to finish the show. 

A Variety investigation earlier that year unveiled allegations that claimed Lemon tore up the desk of his then co-anchor Kyra Phillips, sending her threatening texts via an unknown number after she was tapped for an assignment in Iraq that he wanted.

Lemon has denied those allegations. He currently has 815,000 subscribers on YouTube.