Angry Female CNN Staffers Issue Ultimatum: Fire Don Lemon, Or We Quit - Report
Female CNN staffers angered by Don Lemon’s sexist comments about women in their fifties last Thursday want the network host gone for good, according to a report.
Lemon is on a “holiday” and was away from the morning show he co-anchors with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins for a third straight day Tuesday.
After the 56-year-old resorted to attacking women past their forties as out of their “prime” last Thursday, the duo was reportedly upset. According to the U.K.’s Daily Mail, other women with the network are fuming.
Many expressed they want Lemon’s vacation to become “permanent.”
The outlet reported, “Furious female staffers at CNN have threatened to quit if Don Lemon stays on-air following his sexist comments last week that Nikki Haley and women in their 40s are ‘past their prime.'”
A source described as close to the embattled network said, “People are hurt by his actions and are not going to let this go. It is like every woman over 50 in America has taken this as a personal insult. The female staffers at CNN definitely have. He needs to make his vacation a permanent one.”
Another source who spoke to the Mail said, “The women of CNN are angry. He’s made it impossible to do their jobs. He’s an embarrassment to the network and needs to go.”
One woman offered the network an ultimatum when she reportedly stated, “If Don doesn’t go, we will.”
CNN denied Lemon is on his way out, as was reported Monday. The network claimed any reporting Lemon is being forced out of a job is “patently false.”
But according to the Mail, many of CNN’s few loyal viewers are also heated after he resorted to relegating them to has-beens as he took on Haley’s assertion that many of the country’s current leaders are too old.
The former South Carolina governor and current GOP presidential contender called for a new generation of leadership in Washington when she announced her campaign last week.
Lemon retorted, “Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime. Sorry. When a woman is considered to be in her prime — in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s,” he said.
He cited a Google search as proof women, such as 51-year-old Haley, are over the hill.
Lemon apologized publicly hours after he uttered the comments:
The reference I made to a woman’s “prime” this morning was inartful and irrelevant, as colleagues and loved ones have pointed out, and I regret it. A woman’s age doesn’t define her either personally or professionally. I have countless women in my life who prove that every day.
— Don Lemon (@donlemon) February 16, 2023
He also expressed remorse for the remarks during a company-wide call last Friday, The New York Post reported.
Those apologies have seemingly fallen on deaf ears if the latest reporting is accurate.
According to the Mail, a movement is growing to force Lemon out of CNN altogether just months after he was pulled from his primetime gig.
Lemon’s comments about women and age were delivered amid reported friction between him and Harlow and Collins.
That behind-the-scenes drama has spilled over onto the low-rated show “CNN This Morning.”
The show already reaches a limited audience and appears in jeopardy of sinking to a new low.
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