ABC’s Sarah Isgur slams Don Lemon’s Nikki Haley comments — on Bill Maher’s CNN show
An ABC News contributor who appeared on “Real Time with Bill Maher” slammed embattled CNN host Don Lemon for his sexist comments about Nikki Haley — despite part of Maher’s show being aired on the cable news network.
During Friday’s “Overtime” segment, where Maher addresses viewers’ questions, political commentator Sarah Isgur ripped into the “CNN This Morning” host after being asked about GOP presidential candidate Haley’s position on requiring mental competency tests for politicians 75 and up.
“As Don Lemon told us on CNN, women actually can’t run for president because he said we’re past our prime once we get to our 40s. But since you have to be 35 to run, it’s like this really tiny window between 35 and 40,” Isgur retorted.
Her comments drew laughs from audience members before Maher quickly moved on.
Lemon on Thursday had gone on a bizarre rant against Haley, 51, for supporting mental health competency tests, saying that she wasn’t “in her prime.”
“This whole talk about age makes me uncomfortable,” the 56-year-old anchor said. “I think it’s the wrong road to go down. She says people, you know, politicians are suddenly not in their prime. Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime.”
He added: “A woman is considered to be in their prime in [their] 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.”
Following a widespread backlash at CNN and online, Lemon issued a public apology, calling his own diatribe “inartful and irrelevant.”
“A woman’s age doesn’t define her either personally or professionally. I have countless women in my life who prove that every day,” he tweeted.
CNN staffers are calling for Lemon’s firing over his cringey comments, and a network insider said that his latest fracas could lead CEO Chris Licht to force Lemon out of his show.
“Chris isn’t happy, and he has spoken to Don a couple times today,” the network source said. “Don knows it can’t happen again.”
