As NewsBusters previously reported, CNN’s low-rated morning host Don Lemon has a history of on-air outbursts and privately berating his co-hosts for interrupting him. On Thursday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson got in on the fun by mocking “diva Don Lemon” for his apparent fragile mental state.
“We will concede we spent many happy years making fun of Mr. Don Lemon of CNN. And at times we'll concede we've been a little cruel,” Carlson started out by admitting.
“But as we have mocked him and we have, there has been honestly an undercurrent of real affection. We kind of admire Don Lemon,” Carlson continued. “How can a man so obviously limited have such boundless self-esteem?”
Carlson kept up the mockery of Lemon:
Doesn't he know he's an idiot? No, he has no idea. This is the guy who once suggested that a commercial airliner had been eaten by a black hole. And when people laughed at him, he seemed completely unbothered by their laughter. In a world of intellectual pretense, Don Lemon is not ashamed of being dumb. Or for that matter ashamed of anything else. When he got fired last year from his primetime gig for low ratings and reassigned to mornings, he told viewers it was a promotion and he seemed to mean it.
Carlson observed that there is one thing that gets under Lemon’s skin more than anything else “and that's not being the prettiest person on the set. That drives him insane.”
“So possibly as a kind of torture, or a kind of punishment, CNN's new president Chris Licht paired Don Lemon with two much younger, much more attractive co-hosts, Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow. And the normally steely Don Lemon began to melt down before our very eyes,” Carlson noted with glee.
The star Fox News host then aired a clip of one of Lemon’s most recent on-air meltdowns. (Click expand to read):
KAITLAN COLLINS: Thank you for taking time to join us.
REP. JAMES COMER: Thanks for having me.
DON LEMON: Alright, thank you. That's going to be it. That's the time that we're in where facts are sort of flexible and—
POPPY HARLOW: That's why we have Kaitlan Collins on the hill. Fact-checking in real-time. It was a great interview.
LEMON: Citing uncredible sources, like citing The New York Post as a credible source and saying that facts are–it's–I can't believe that we're here.
HARLOW: Kaitlan that was a great interview. All right. Moving on.
LEMON: Anyway, not moving on because, listen, that's a big issue when it comes -- hold on, please, with the music. That’s a big issue when it comes to the American people. The American people are going to have to suffer through all of this stuff from election deniers to people who don't believe in facts, we don't have a shared reality and now it's taking center stage too, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene.
When Carlson came back live he chuckled and said: “This is Thanksgiving at the alcoholic passive-aggressive family’s house.”
Clearly recognizing that Lemon is in crisis, Carlson proposed that “CNN president Chris Licht really ought to sit down with this guy over a few mango white claws and just let him know that just because somebody else is pretty doesn't mean that you're ugly.”
Carlson asked, “is it gonna work?” We don't know. But they’ve gotta try something. Don Lemon is on the brink.”
To read the transcript of the segment click “expand”:
FNC’s Tucker Carlson Tonight
2/9/2023
8:36:10 p.m. EasternTUCKER CARLSON: We will concede we spent many happy years making fun of Mr. Don Lemon of CNN. And at times we'll concede we've been a little cruel. But as we have mocked him and we have, there has been honestly an undercurrent of real affection. We kind of admire Don Lemon. How can a man so obviously limited have such boundless self-esteem?
Doesn't he know he's an idiot? No, he has no idea. This is the guy who once suggested that a commercial airliner had been eaten by a black hole. And when people laughed at him, he seemed completely unbothered by their laughter. In a world of intellectual pretense, Don Lemon is not ashamed of being dumb. Or for that matter ashamed of anything else.
When he got fired last year from his primetime gig for low ratings and reassigned to mornings, he told viewers it was a promotion and he seemed to mean it. So whatever else you say about Mr. Don Lemon, he is unflappable or so we assumed. It turns out that there is in fact one thing that bothers Don Lemon and that's not being the prettiest person on the set. That drives him insane.
So possibly as a kind of torture, or a kind of punishment, CNN's new president Chris Licht paired Don Lemon with two much younger, much more attractive co-hosts, Kaitlan Collins and Poppy Harlow. And the normally steely Don Lemon began to melt down before our very eyes. The other day, for example, after Kaitlan Collins interviewed a Republican member of Congress, Don Lemon launched into an attack on Republicans that wasn't actually an attack on Republicans but a not-so-veiled attack on his co-host, Kaitlan Collins. Can't do that. Producers in the control room turned up the music to get him to be quiet. We’re going to commercial now! But he shushed them to keep attacking her. Watch this.
[cuts to video]
KAITLAN COLLINS: Thank you for taking time to join us.
REP. JAMES COMER: Thanks for having me.
DON LEMON: Alright, thank you. That's going to be it. That's the time that we're in where facts are sort of flexible and—
POPPY HARLOW: That's why we have Kaitlan Collins on the hill. Fact-checking in real-time. It was a great interview.
LEMON: Citing uncredible sources, like citing The New York Post as a credible source and saying that facts are–it's–I can't believe that we're here.
HARLOW: Kaitlan that was a great interview. All right. Moving on.
LEMON: Anyway, not moving on because, listen, that's a big issue when it comes -- hold on, please, with the music. That’s a big issue when it comes to the American people. The American people are going to have to suffer through all of this stuff from election deniers to people who don't believe in facts, we don't have a shared reality and now it's taking center stage too, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene.
[cuts back to live]
CARLSON: This is Thanksgiving at the alcoholic passive-aggressive family’s house. The American people sheiks Don Lemon. The American people! Of course, it's not about the American people. It's definitely not about, quote facts. Facts? No. It's about how Don Lemon feels about himself.
CNN president Chris Licht really ought to sit down with this guy over a few mango white claws and just let him know that just because somebody else is pretty doesn't mean that you're ugly. It's okay, Don. You're beautiful inside. Or something. Is it gonna work? We don't know. But they’ve gotta try something. Don Lemon is on the brink.
