Sunny Hostin Says Don Lemon and Tiffany Cross’ Firings Sent Media ‘Backwards’
Sunny Hostin shared her View about two recent cable-news dismissals, saying that CNN firing Don Lemon this month and MSNBC firing Tiffany Cross in November sent media “backwards a bit.”
Hostin commented on those shake-ups at the second annual Politics & Inclusion Dinner in Washington D.C., on Friday, April 28, when People asked her about diversity in the media.
“I’d like to see improvement with more representation,” the co-host of The View said. “I thought, you know, we were in a place where we had people and voices like Don Lemon and like Tiffany Cross. And I think we’re seeing the media go backwards a bit when you’re looking at people that have been the voice of news and addressing — head-on in an unfiltered and unvarnished way — the real-life and lived experience of people of color.”
MSNBC fired Cross, then the host of The Cross Connection, in November 2022 — with Variety later reporting that network president Rashida Jones gave Cross the axe because Cross ignored Jones’ directives for the show. (Sources also told the magazine that Cross told Hostin during a visit to the set of The View days later that she had issues with Cross’ tone on air for nearly a year before letting Cross go.)
Lemon, on the other hand, lost his job co-hosting CNN This Morning on April 24 after various controversies, including the comments he made in February about middle-aged women not being “in their prime” and a recent Variety report about his alleged misogynistic behavior at CNN.
“I’m pretty disappointed, actually, in the state of things,” Hostin added at Friday’s event. “But I’m hopeful when you see a room like this, that there are going to be a bunch of young journalists that will be vulnerable and fearless and go after it.”
Hostin, who previously served as a host and legal analyst for CNN, told People that she’s biased in regards to Lemon, since he’s been a friend of hers for 10 years. “I know him extremely well, and it doesn’t make sense to me. It is not my experience with him,” she said. “I know for a fact when there have been allegations against some of his team members, he has spoken up and spoken out for women. So it’s unfortunate that this narrative is coming out — or is being played out — because I don’t think it’s true.”
