CNN anchor, Don Lemon, will not be appearing on screens from Monday (February 20) after his controversial comments demeaning newly-minted Presidential candidate Nikki Haley.
The decision to remove Lemon from Monday’s lineup of “CNN This Morning” — and bench him indefinitely — was made on Sunday amid calls for Lemon’s firing because of sexist remarks he made last week.
A CNN insider revealed Lemon would be taking President’s Day Amid the furor and could return to the on-air lineup on Tuesday, depending on “where his head is at.”
Daily Beast was the first to report Lemon would be removed from Monday’s lineup, describing his future at CNN as uncertain.
A source familiar with the matter told the Daily Beast that conversations about Don’s future at the network were “ongoing” while describing the anchor as a “constant distraction” for CNN.
The decision to suspend Lemon’s on-air appearances follows his Friday apology to colleagues for remarks he made calling Haley past her “prime.”
Also on Friday, CNN’s CEO Chris Licht scolded the anchor for his “upsetting, unacceptable and unfair” comments, which had devolved into a “huge distraction” for the network.
Lemon made the distasteful remark as a pushback to Haley’s call for politicians over 75 to undergo annual cognitive tests.
He cited Google as a source for his assertion that women are in their “prime” during their “twenties, thirties, and forties.”
When co-host Poppy Harlow pushed back on that claim, Lemon told viewers to “Google it,” adding that “Haley should be careful about saying… politicians are not in their prime, and they need to be in their prime when they serve.”
