Former CNN anchor Don Lemon remains a staunch defender of the network His dramatic firing last year,
In an interview on Friday “counter point,” During his tenure at the network, Lemon was questioned about CNN’s coverage, which co-host Ryan Grimm accused of ”sounding like a Democratic mouthpiece.”
Lemon responded, “I don’t agree with what you’re saying and when people put it in that context.” “We all look at life through a certain lens, whether you’re a journalist or not… It’s really OK to be a journalist and have an opinion. Opinion is journalism. So, you know, I don’t believe in that BS, Journalists just have to sit there and say, ‘What do you think, what do you think, okay, okay.’ It doesn’t work like that… I believe that was the pinnacle of CNN during that time.”
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“And it might have seemed like we had moved to the left or, you know, we were somehow becoming an arm of the Democratic Party. It was only because of the Republican side, and mostly because of Donald Trump and the MAGA wing of the Republicans. The facts weren’t on their side,” he added. “So the simple fact of pointing out that you’re getting misinformation can make people think that.” That, ‘Oh my God, you must be on the Democrat side.’ No, you are on the side of truth.”
Don Lemon pushed the notion that CNN moved too far left is the fault of former President Trump and “the MAGA wing of the Republican Party.” (Reuters/Andrew Kelly)
“Counter Points” co-host Emily Jashinsky pushed back against Lemon, saying that the Russiagate coverage that came from CNN and media broadly “Wasn’t great.”
“Just the question of ‘Donald Trump didn’t have the facts,'” Jashinsky said.
Lemon responded, “The coverage of Russia on CNN was good. I think the coverage of Russia in the media was good. I don’t think it was bad.” “You may disagree with it. That’s your bias. But really, the coverage was good. And I think people are smart enough to recognize what’s true and what’s not, what’s real and what’s not. And so, I don’t think the coverage was that bad. I don’t fall into that category and I think people were – look, I think people romanticize that time, you know. , COVID and the protocols that were in place, and it was bad, and it was bad they don’t remember the times we were in.”
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“I think the media did the best job they could at the time. I don’t think it was terrible. We can always look back, you know, being the armchair quarterback, being the Monday morning quarterback and say ‘Oh, you should have done that.’ We shouldn’t do that. And again, my advice is to accept things as they are, learn your lesson and move on… and I think if we did that we would be making a mistake and something. It’s wrong, we’ll say it.”
CNN went all out in its Russiagate coverage against then-President Trump, but quickly moved on when allegations of collusion collapsed. (Getty Images)
Grimm told Lemon, “But has CNN ever said that there was never actually proven collusion between the Trump campaign and (Russia?) — I don’t think there ever was any collusion between them,” to which he responded. Gave “Beyond CNN, I think there are accounts of collusion but you’d have to ask CNN.”
Earlier in the interview, Lemon was reminded of his infamous January 2020 CNN segment, laughing out loud when his panel mocked Trump voters. “Reliable Boomer Rubes,” Jashinsky called it a “low point” for the media in the Trump era. Lemon explained to Jashinsky that he was particularly laughing uncontrollably at his guest’s quip that Trump “couldn’t find Ukraine on a map if you had a picture of the letter U and a real, physical crane.”
Lemon said, “I didn’t make any comments about Americans, so you’ll have to talk to Rick Wilson about that.”
Specifically, Lemon accused Trump voters later that year having “cognitive dissonance” Supporting such “bad guys” and how they “love racism” and “misogyny.”
Lemon was talked about his infamous CNN segment, where he laughed out loud as his panel mocked Trump voters. (Screenshot/CNN)
He also compared Trump voters for drug addicts and argued that they were On the side of the Klansmen and the Nazis,
Lemon was fired last April after several tumultuous months, including losing his solo primetime show, off-set drama at his new morning show and his controversial “past her prime” comments about Nikki Haley. Were.
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In a recent interview, Lemon left the door open To officially return to CNN.
“Look, I would never say,” Lemon said, “that most people who were The people involved in my removal are gone, And so this is the kind of place it was, you know, before I got there. So that will be interesting.”
