Don Lemon Breaks Silence In First On-Camera Comments Since CNN Exit

Ousted CNN anchor Don Lemon spoke out for the first time since his Monday statement announcing that the network had let him go, speaking to reporters from the red carpet at the TIME 100 Summit Gala in New York on Wednesday evening.

Lemon, who attended the fancy affair alongside his partner Tim Malone, took several questions from the press before he walked inside the event. And while he admitted again that the news had come as a shock, he appeared to shrug it off: “Life goes on. That’s behind me, and we’ll see what happens in the future.”

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#TIME100: What influence has @donlemon left on CNN?

"Why don't you ask my colleagues about that" pic.twitter.com/x2E7PLrRQl

— TIME (@TIME) April 27, 2023

One reporter asked about him losing his job, and Lemon replied by invoking his sister’s 2018 accidental drowning: “I didn’t lose my job, I lost my sister. A job is something that is not as important as a person. So — yes, I know what’s important in life.”

Lemon went on to say that his immediate plans included a beach and some time with his partner and the people who were important to him. “I’m going to have the summer of a 12-year-old,” he added, suggesting that he did not intend to worry about more serious things — at least for the time being.

When asked about the influence he believed he had left behind at his now-former network, Lemon’s reply was simple: “Why don’t you ask my colleagues about that?”

News of Lemon’s firing hit the media just hours after he had co-hosted “CNN This Morning” with Poppy Harlow and Caitlin Collins for the last time — and while everyone was still reeling from the shocking announcement that Fox News had abruptly cut ties with ratings juggernaut Tucker Carlson.

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That proximity, Sirius XM radio shock jock Howard Stern noted, may have provided Lemon with some cover if he had wanted the news to fly under the radar. “Don Lemon got fired over at CNN and then some other guy at NBC, Jeff Shell, who’s an executive, got fired,” Stern said on Tuesday. “And I’m like, Jeff Shell’s so lucky, and so is Don Lemon, because Tucker Carlson getting fired on the same day you get fired — you barely make news, like no one will even notice.”

Carlson has also been spotted since his exit from Fox News, enjoying a rare weeknight dinner with his wife and laughing off reporters as he sped away in a golf cart near his Florida home. “Retirement is going great so far,” he joked.

Both Lemon and Carlson have reportedly retained counsel to negotiate matters related to their respective exits.