Don Lemon Slaps Elon Musk With $35 Million Lawsuit Over Aborted X Talk Show
The former CNN anchor is accusing the tech mogul and his company X of breaching their content deal.
Don Lemon has waged a legal battle against Elon Musk.
According to Variety, the Emmy-winning news journalist is suing his former boss over a canceled content partnership they solidified back in January. Lemon claims he had agreed to host an exclusive talk show on the X platform (f.k.a. Twitter), which Musk acquired nearly two years ago; however, Lemon states Musk and his company abruptly terminated the deal after his contentious interview with the tech mogul.
The filing states that Lemon was “guaranteed” $1.5 million in the first year for the talk show, as well as a percentage of the advertising revenue earned and extra payments for follower growth. Lemon says he was told that the deal would be good for 12 months as long as “he agreed to provide Defendants exclusive rights to specific video content for a 24-hour period before it could be dispersed to other platforms: (1) one piece of long-form video content (that is not breaking news) per week; and (2) ten pieces of short-form video content per month.”
The lawsuit alleges Musk and X had used Lemon’s name to stir up interest from advertisers and then scrapped the deal a week before the show’s premiere. Lemon claims he “incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in expenses” while preparing for the program and was never compensated for his work.
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Lemon is accusing the defendants of fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of express contract, and misappropriation of Lemon’s name and likeness. According to CBS News, Lemon is seeking $35 million.
“This case is straightforward. X executives used Don to prop up their advertising sales pitch, then canceled their partnership and dragged Don’s name through the mud,” Lemon’s attorney Carney Shegerian said in a statement. “You don’t have to be a genius to see the fraud, negligence, and reputational damage here. Don is an accomplished and hard-hitting journalist who’s committed to defending his good name and holding X’s executives accountable. We look forward to our day in court.”
