Speaking with Chris Cuomo on Thursday night during the transition segment, CNN host Don Lemon said that he has cut ties with friends due to their beliefs about the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I have many people who I love in my life. And yeah, I come from a red state,” he said. “I’ve lived in several red states. There are a lot of friends I had to get rid of because they are so nonsensical when it comes to this issue. They have the whole – every single talking point that they hear on state TV and that they hear from this president. They repeat it and they are blinded by it.”
“And I just – when I said to you the other night, ‘There’s no way, they can’t believe it.’ You know, I was just goosing you in away, right? You know, they say I was – um – I was breaking your, you know,” he added.
Though Lemon tried to maintain these relationships, he ultimately “had to get rid of them” because they are “too far gone.”
“I had to get rid of them. Because they are too far gone,” he said. “I try and I try and I try. They’ll say something really stupid and then I’ll show them the science and I’ll give them any information, and they still repeat those talking points. And all the while, the state was a hot spot.”
“If you look at the information that we put up last night that came up yesterday, it showed you how the red states have now taken over where the blue states were,” he continued. “People came in because there are bigger cities and there’s more transmission, obviously, where there are more people are closer together. And so, now the red states are the problem.”
The CNN host even went as far to liken such people to drug addicts that need to hit rock bottom before they can pick themselves up.
“And I just had to get rid of a lot of people in my life because sometimes you have to let them go. I think they have to hit rock bottom like an addict, right?” he said. “And they have to want to get help, they have to want to know the truth, they have to want to live in reality, they have to want to be responsible not only for other people’s lives but for their lives.”
Going forward, Lemon doubted if he would be able to enjoy friendships with such people ever again. He would only take them back if they “were willing to live in reality.”
“I don’t know if after this, I will ever be able to go back and be friends with those people, because at a certain point you just say, ‘They’re too far gone and I got to let them go,'” he concluded. “And if they’re willing to come back and willing to live in reality, then I will welcome them with open arms. But I can’t it – I can’t do it anymore.”
CNN’s Don Lemon says he had to get rid of a lot of friends of his that are Trump supporters:
"I just had to get rid of a lot of people in my life because sometimes you have to let them go. I think they have to hit rock bottom like an addict.”pic.twitter.com/OTou3b54s4
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 30, 2020