Don Lemon Seems to Shade Jon Stewart on Hot Mic, Then Backpedals
CNN anchor Don Lemon was caught once again expressing his unsolicited views on air, this time about Jon Stewart. A hot mic captured him stating that the former host of The Daily Show, “gets a lot of leeway” as a comedian in reference to an exchange between Stewart and a Pentagon official.
The awkward moment occurred while Lemon hosted CNN This Morning on April 10 with Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins. The show broadcast a clip of Stewart interviewing Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Hicks, in which he challenged her about the military’s bloated budget and alleged lack of care for service members.
“I can’t figure out how $850 billion to a department means that the rank and file still have to be on food stamps,” Stewart told the second-ranking defense official. “To me, that’s fucking corruption.”
As that section of the interview was playing, Lemon could be heard in the background.
“He gets a lot of leeway with the comedian thing, though,” Lemon said as the audio from the video package cut. Based on the silence that followed, many were led to believe he thought he was speaking to his co-anchors off-air.
Lemon quickly began to backtrack and reframe his statement, saying, “We were just discussing that Jon Stewart is so much more than a comedian. He is a thought leader.” He sheepishly continued, “Yeah, when I was saying comedian and television host, he’s so much more than that. I don’t even know if you need to qualify Jon Stewart as that. But good interview there.”
Recently, an expose with evidence dating back to 2008 has surfaced detailing his tenure at CNN, which according to Variety, shows he’s ridiculed and attacked colleagues like Nancy Grace and Soledad O’Brien for over 15 years.
CNN reached out to TMZ about the hot mic moment, with the network saying his mic caught his conversation with the show’s producer about how best to introduce Stewart.
According to the network, “as it was scripted,” Lemon referred to The Problem host as a comedian and host, “but during the soundbite … he and co-anchors Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins were telling the producer it’s fairer to label him an advocate for veterans’ rights” without realizing viewers could hear them.
Don Sour Lemon is caught on hot mic dissing @jonstewart after @CNN airs report where he slams the Defense Department spending as ‘fucking corruption’ @donlemon : ‘He gets a lot of leeway with the comedian thing’ pic.twitter.com/JI1ovciWHg
— 🔥🇺🇸 KC 🇺🇸🔥 (@KCPayTreeIt) April 10, 2023
