Don Lemon is looking back on his CNN exit and feeling vindicated after CEO Chris Licht was ousted from the network. In a conversation with Kara Swisher on her podcast 'Pivot', Lemon opened up about being let go from CNN two months after making comments about how Nikki Haley was no longer in her prime.
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00:00 Don Lemon is looking back on his CNN exit
00:02 and feeling vindicated after CEO Chris Licht
00:05 was ousted from the network.
00:07 In a conversation with Kara Swisher on her podcast Pivot,
00:11 Lemon opened up about being let go from CNN
00:14 two months after making comments about how Nikki Haley
00:16 was no longer in her prime.
00:18 Lemon is claiming CNN was getting ready
00:20 to go in a different direction and he didn't fit that mold.
00:23 "They did not want me to be a part of that,
00:25 "and I think that has from what has played out publicly
00:27 "as it relates to CNN, as it relates to management
00:30 "and what they're doing now.
00:31 "I think that it's obvious that they didn't want me
00:33 "to be a part of that.
00:35 "And I think that's a real issue that happened."
00:37 The former anchor also explained
00:39 that he hasn't watched the network since his departure.
00:41 Lemon also touched on Chris Licht being let go
00:44 at the network shortly after ousting him.
00:46 "Read the story and you speak to the people who are there,
00:49 "and I think people get what happened.
00:50 "All you have to do is read the Atlantic story,
00:53 "read the subsequent stories that came out
00:55 "and how it played out.
00:56 "They're gone now, so do I feel vindicated in that sense?
00:59 "Yes, I do."
01:00 He also claimed that had Jeff Zucker been heading
01:02 the network when Lemon made the comments about Hailey,
01:05 for which he apologized,
01:06 things would have played out differently.
01:08 He said in part, "He was very supportive of us
01:10 "and he wanted us to not necessarily be provocative,
01:13 "but just to be ourselves.
01:15 "And if we got something wrong, we apologized,
01:17 "we explained it, and he supported us and we moved on."
01:20 For more details on this story, head to thr.com.
01:24 And for the latest entertainment news and updates,
01:26 keep watching The Hollywood Reporter News.
01:28 (whooshing)
01:31 [ Music ]