Chris Cuomo Speaks Out on Former Pal Don Lemon: ‘Such a Shock’ to See Him on CNN Again

NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo addressed the kerfuffle between his former CNN colleague Don Lemon and Elon Musk.

On Wednesday, Lemon announced Musk nixed a deal they made whereby Lemon would produce content for X, formerly known as Twitter. The billionaire pulled the plug after sitting down for an interview with Lemon, who asked some unwelcome questions.

Later on Wednesday, Lemon appeared on CNN for the first time since the network fired him in April. He shared clips from the interview, including one exchange in which Musk became irritated at Lemon’s questions about hate speech on the platform the Tesla CEO has owned since October 2022.

During Thursday’s handoff between Cuomo and Dan Abrams Live on NewsNation, Cuomo and Mediaite founder Dan Abrams discussed the dustup.

Abrams likened Lemon’s interview with Musk to Cuomo’s sit-down with Tucker Carlson, whom Fox News fired the same day CNN showed Lemon the door. The host noted a significant difference, however.

Abrams noted that “there’s just a huge power disparity, which is Elon Musk is really, really, really rich and really doesn’t care and decided, ‘I don’t like this interview. I don’t like the questions he’s asking. I’m done with him. I don’t want the kind of discussion anymore.'”

Cuomo said he was familiar with those involved, but “least of all, Don Lemon.”

Despite a bromance between Cuomo and Lemon that manifested in a podcast and lengthy handoffs during their old CNN shows, the two reportedly are no longer on speaking terms after Lemon did not check in on Cuomo after the latter was fired by CNN in 2021.

“Him showing up on CNN again was such a shock, and yet it was a pleasant shock for me. I was happy he got to go back,” Cuomo said of his former colleague. “The way they got rid of him, I know what that’s like and I know what it must have been like for Don and I’m glad that he was back there. And I’d love to see him back. I think he’d be a great help to CNN.”

Watch above via NewsNation.

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