Don Lemon sues Elon Musk and X over canceled talk show

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon is suing Elon Musk and his social media platform X over a canceled talk show, with Lemon alleging fraud, negligent misrepresentation, misappropriation of his name and likeness, unjust enrichment, and breach of express contract.

The journalist was days away from launching The Don Lemon Show, a new program to be released on the social media service, when Musk pulled the plug on it in March 2024. In a statement on X at the time, Lemon claimed that he was informed of the decision just hours after filming a “tense” interview with Musk for the show.

The lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in the Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco, alleges that within one day of the interview — in which Musk was asked about hate speech on the social media platform and his open use of ketamine, among other things — Musk sent Lemon’s agent a text message stating “contract [with Defendants] is cancelled.”

"Defendants deliberately misrepresented what they intended to do," the lawsuit reads. "Defendants knew that if they accurately represented to Lemon that the purpose and meaning of the exclusive partnership deal was to use Lemon’s name, likeness, reputation, and identity to rehabilitate Defendants reputation and draw in advertisers to the X platform, Lemon would never have agreed to do what he did and Defendants would have been unable to utilize Lemon to keep up with their ongoing efforts to woo advertisers."

The suit claims that Lemon and Musk had no signed agreement, "despite Musk previously representing to Lemon that there would be no need for a formal written agreement or to 'fill out paperwork,'" but through a series of negotiations with Lemon's agents, he was promised a $1.5 million deal as well as other lucrative incentives to provide X exclusive rights to specific video content for a 24-hour period.

Lemon, who was abruptly fired from CNN in 2023, also apparently “expressed reservations about entering into a partnership with X due to the ongoing controversies surrounding the X platform." The suit continues, "In response, and to induce Lemon to enter into an exclusive partnership deal with X, Musk represented to Lemon that he would have full authority and control over the work he produced even if disliked by Defendants, and that there would be no need for a formal written agreement."

In a statement provided to Entertainment Weekly, Lemon's attorney, Carney Shegerian, called the case straightforward. "X’s executives used Don to prop up their advertising sales pitch, then canceled their partnership and dragged Don’s name through the mud," the statement read. "You don’t have to be a genius to see the fraud, negligence, and reputational damage here. Don’s a hard-hitting journalist who’s committed to defending his good name. We look forward to our day in court.”

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“He made a series of impressively insane demands. We declined. Therefore, there was no deal,” Musk wrote on X Friday, though he didn’t list what Lemon’s alleged “insane demands” were.

The suit demands a jury trial and is seeking unspecified monetary damages.