Former CNN host Don Lemon launched a scathing critique of the media establishment, arguing that legacy networks enable right-wing ideologues, suppress liberals like himself and systematically reward unqualified White men with immense corporate power.
Lemon’s remarks came in a Substack piece published ahead of tonight’s final broadcast of CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” CBS announced last year that it would be canceling the late-night institution after a 33-year franchise run, citing steep financial headwinds facing traditional network television.
In his essay, headlined, “Don’t cry for Stephen Colbert. Cry for the First Amendment,” Lemon tied the end of Colbert’s show to his own tumultuous exit from CNN and his current high-profile legal battles. Lemon is currently fighting federal civil rights charges and a civil lawsuit after he livestreamed far-left activists disrupting a Sunday service at a Minnesota church in January.
“The networks didn’t like me asking conservatives hard questions,” Lemon wrote. “CNN didn’t like the mirror I was holding up every night. So they pushed me out. And I thought: if it happened to me, it will happen to others. It will trickle down. Or up. Depending on how you look at it.”
While Lemon praised Colbert’s talent, he argued that the corporate structures governing cable news and late-night television share a common denominator: protecting a specific class of executives. Lemon aimed his fire at an unnamed executive — appearing to reference former CNN CEO and “Late Show” executive producer Chris Licht.
“The world that produced ‘The Late Show,’ the world of legacy media, cable news, and network television, has long had a problem nobody wanted to name out loud,” Lemon wrote. “It is a world that has been extraordinarily good to a very specific kind of person. White men who fail spectacularly and are promoted for it.”
He added, “White men who make catastrophic decisions and are handed bigger offices for it. White men who are visibly, demonstrably unqualified and are given more power anyway. I have watched it for thirty years. I have been managed by it. I have been undone by it.”
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Lemon highlighted the direct link between his career downfall and the late-night world, pointing out how the executive producer who ran Colbert’s show for years later became his boss at CNN — and ultimately fired him.
“I won’t name him. I don’t need to. But I will say this: it was one of the most spectacular examples of a White man failing up that I have witnessed in this industry,” Lemon claimed, calling the executive “profoundly unqualified” and “visibly incompetent.”
He further questioned whether poor corporate leadership, rather than just changing viewer habits, accelerated the demise of Colbert’s program. “Maybe losing tens of millions of dollars a year wasn’t just about the economics of late night. Maybe it was about who was running the building,” he added.
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Lemon urged his readers not to worry about Colbert’s personal future, noting that the comedian will thrive in his next chapter. Instead, Lemon used the moment to sound the alarm on what he characterizes as an assault on journalistic freedom, while simultaneously slamming legacy networks for granting airtime to conservative figures.
“Cry for the First Amendment,” Lemon warned. “Cry for the journalists who are being forced to make room for right-wing extremists on their platforms. People who come on television only to lie, deny, and mislead.”
Fox News Digital reached out to CNN for comment regarding Lemon’s remarks but did not receive an immediate response.
Fox News’ Brian Flood contributed to this report.
