Elon Musk Abruptly Calls Off Don Lemon’s Partnership With X

Former CNN host Don Lemon’s new talk show, The Don Lemon Show, will no longer be partnered with X (formerly Twitter). Ties were cut just days before its first episode was scheduled to air this Monday. X owner Elon Musk was set to be Lemon’s first guest on the show, but the interview turned tense, and as a result, Musk abruptly canceled X’s partnership with Lemon.

The episode is available through Lemon’s personal X account and on YouTube. The show was also always set to air on these channels, not just X.

Musk was described as occasionally “testy”, as can be seen when Lemon asked questions about impending U.S. presidential elections, hate speech on X, rumors surrounding Musk’s substance use, and his various business ventures.

“My questions were respectful and wide-ranging, covering everything from SpaceX to the presidential election,” Lemon said in a statement he released on X. “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,” he added.

“[Lemon’s] approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media,’” Musk said on Twitter, “which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying.” He continued that the interview “lacked authenticity.”

“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,” the company said in a statement on X.

A spokesperson for Lemon told CNN that payment is still expected. “Don has a deal with X and expects to be paid for it,” the spokesperson said. “If we have to go to court, we will.”

This isn’t the first time Musk has suddenly cut ties with X partners. In November 2023, he told advertisers to stop spending on his platform, and those remarks may have resulted in a $75 million loss in revenue.

This event points to a bigger challenge: while Elon Musk claims X to be a platform where everyone can speak freely, his own opinions are affecting which partnerships the platform deems as worthy. In doing this, the platform is also showing that it will only actively support the “free speech” it wants to.