Don Lemon, a former star presenter at CNN, has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform X, claiming that Musk and his company unjustly terminated their partnership.
The lawsuit alleges that Musk, 53, failed to compensate Lemon, 58, after using his name to attract advertisers to the platform, according to the BBC.
Earlier this year, X entered into agreements with Lemon, former U.S. Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, and sports radio host Jim Rome as part of its strategy to win back advertisers following several controversies.
The lawsuit claims fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and misappropriation of name and likeness, as noted in a post on the Facebook page of Lemon’s law firm.
According to the lawsuit filed in California Superior Court in San Francisco, X had promised to pay Lemon $1.5 million along with a share of advertising revenue but abruptly canceled the partnership after Lemon invested thousands of dollars in creating the show.
The agreement, which aimed to launch The Don Lemon Show on X, fell apart in March after the first episode was recorded, featuring an interview with the SpaceX CEO.
Shortly after the deal collapsed, Musk commented on X that Lemon’s approach was simply “CNN, but on social media,” adding that it “doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying.”
During the interview, recorded at Tesla’s headquarters in Texas, Lemon questioned Musk about his use of the drug ketamine and the rise of hate speech on X.
Lemon was with CNN for 17 years before being fired in April 2023 after making on-air comments suggesting then-Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was past her prime. Following Lemon’s departure from CNN, Musk reached out to him in an effort to attract advertisers back to X, which had been struggling due to a series of controversies since Musk’s takeover in 2022.
