Fired CNN anchor Don Lemon alleged that feminine colleagues sexually harassed him, together with one who groped the homosexual anchor by touching his nipples whereas exclaiming, “Oh, it’s cold in here!”
Lemon, who was canned in 2023 after a tumultuous 17-year stint on the ratings-challenged community, made the declare throughout an look on Invoice Maher’s “Club Random” podcast on Monday.
Throughout the two-hour dialog, Lemon claimed there have been uncomfortable encounters involving each female and male colleagues.
“I’ve been harassed by women and men at work,” Lemon informed Maher throughout the two-hour dialog.
“There are some things that are really egregious, but not everything is Harvey Weinstein-level,” he added, referring to the film mogul who was sentenced to greater than 30 years in jail after being convicted for quite a few sexual assaults.
Lemon pointed to an interplay with one feminine CNN co-worker who approached him within the cafeteria of CNN’s Atlanta headquarters and pinched his nipples, joking, “Oh, it’s cold in here!”
The shocked anchor mentioned he informed her: “OK, you realize if I did that, they’d be walking me out the door right now?”
Regardless of feeling uncomfortable, Lemon mentioned he determined to not report the incident to human sources, attributing his silence to a perceived double commonplace.
Lemon alleged {that a} second feminine colleague behaved inappropriately in the direction of him throughout an off-site encounter.
“She knew I was gay, and it was just bizarre. She was going through a divorce. It was just weird,” Lemon mentioned.
He expressed hesitation about reporting the colleague as he feared that given her skilled stature, he wouldn’t be believed.
Lemon — whose interview had sparked outrage after he claimed that supporters of President Trump had been “really f–king racist,” mentioned he additionally feared that reporting the incident would jeopardize his personal place inside the community.
He didn’t identify the alleged harasser.
Pressed by Maher for extra particulars, Lemon clarified that the incident additionally passed off in Atlanta after an expert occasion.
He recalled how restricted transportation choices on the time left him stranded, ensuing within the girl insisting he keep at her residence.
“‘No, don’t go home. Stay in the guest room,’” Lemon recounted her urging him, including that she later grew to become notably hostile towards him.
Reflecting additional, Lemon shared his perspective on gender dynamics and harassment, suggesting that as a person, he felt empowered to say no with out fearing important repercussions.
“I think it’s flattering as long as you can send them off easily. As a man, I could say, ‘No, I’m not interested’,” he informed Maher.
Lemon didn’t present any additional particulars about alleged sexual harassment by male colleagues.
Bur he did inform Maher that he had been molested throughout his childhood. He then drew a nexus between the traumatic expertise to the alleged situations of harassment whereas at CNN.
“Because you know how to deal with it, and you know what’s really important or not. And you know, like, who has the power,” Lemon mentioned.
Lemon mentioned that he would fairly deal with conditions instantly fairly than escalating them by means of formal complaints to human sources.
“I figure as a man, I have the power to say, ‘I don’t want to.’ I don’t need to go to HR or ruin your career. I just tell you, ‘I’m not interested in this. You were drunk. We had a couple of drinks or whatever. Let’s let it go’,” Lemon mentioned.
A CNN spokesperson declined to remark.
Lemon himself was accused of misogynistic habits throughout his tenure at CNN, which included a number of high-profile incidents that generated headlines and outrage.
In December 2022, Lemon asserted that males’s soccer is “more interesting to watch,” resulting in an on-air disagreement with co-hosts Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow.
In February 2023, Lemon confronted backlash after stating that presidential candidate Nikki Haley, then 51, was “not in her prime,” suggesting {that a} girl’s prime is in her 20s, 30s and 40s.
This remark was criticized as sexist, prompting Lemon to apologize to his colleagues.
Two months later, the leisure information journal Selection reported that Lemon was accused of misogynistic habits in the direction of feminine colleagues, together with Soledad O’Brien, Kyra Phillips and Nancy Grace.
Lemon is alleged to have questioned O’Brien’s racial identification. Selection additionally reported that Lemon allegedly threatened Phillips and mocked Grace.
Lemon’s consultant denied these allegations, labeling them as “unsourced” and “unsubstantiated.”
Shorlty after the Selection report was revealed, Lemon was fired by CNN. He has since gone on to begin his personal podcast.
