Bitter Don Lemon tries to dunk on Nikki Haley: ‘She didn’t offer me that same grace’
Fired CNN anchor Don Lemon showed little sympathy for Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley after she sparked an uproar for declining to state that slavery was the cause of the Civil War.
Lemon, who was let go by the cable news outlet after a string of controversies including a sexist statement on air about Haley’s age, posted a message on his social media reminding his 1.4 million followers that the former South Carolina governor was all too happy to watch him go down earlier this year.
“Nikki Haley wants grace for using a poor choice of words when, after I misspoke in some comments involving her, she didn’t offer me that same grace, immediately and very publicly took me to task, and then fundraised off of it,” Lemon wrote on his X social media account.
Lemon added that he was “glad she clarified what she should have said” and that “in the spirit of the season, let’s see if her actions match her corrected words moving forward.”
The Post has sought comment from Haley.
Haley, who has emerged in recent weeks as former President Donald Trump’s top challenger for the GOP presidential nomination, has been trying to tamp down the firestorm over her remarks.
A day after not citing slavery at a town hall in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Haley acknowledged that the conflict was indeed “about slavery.”
“Of course, the Civil War was about slavery,” Haley told voters at a town hall in North Conway, NH, on Thursday.
“We know that. That’s unquestioned. Always the case. We know the Civil War was about slavery.”
Haley, who as governor of South Carolina ordered the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the State House, added that the Civil War “was also more than that” and that it was “about the freedoms of every individual.”
“For 80 years, America had the decision and the moral question of whether slavery was a good thing,” Haley said.
“And whether government economically, culturally, any other reasons, had a role to play in that. By the grace of God, we did the right thing and slavery is no more.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who trails Haley in recent polls, took aim at his rival on Thursday, saying the former ambassador to the UN “had some problems with some basic American history.”
In February, Lemon, who at the time was a co-anchor on CNN’s daily morning news show, caused his own uproar when he criticized Haley’s demand that politicians over the age of 75 undergo regular mental competency exams.
“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,” Lemon told co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlin Collins.
“A woman is considered to be in their prime in [their] 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.”
Haley quickly ripped the CNN host, accusing him of being sexist.
“Liberals can’t stand the idea of having competency tests for older politicians to make sure they can do the job. [By the way] it’s always the liberals who are the most sexist,” she fired off in a tweet.
Lemon was suspended over the incident. Weeks later, he was fired.
Haley celebrated Lemon’s firing as a “great day for women everywhere” — posting an image on her social media showing a can of lemonade with a sleeve that reads “Past My Prime?”
