'It Wasn't a Gotcha Interview!': Don Lemon Defends Conducting His Controversial Chat With Elon Musk

Don Lemon, a prominent journalist and former CNN host, opened up about his dramatic ousting from the network and the fate of his engagement with billionaire Elon Musk for a new venture after a tumultuous interview.

Lemon claimed that the conversation with Musk wasn't meant to be a "gotcha" interview. "It was just a straightforward interview, and I thought that he would appreciate it," he explained.

When Lemon was dramatically ousted from CNN, he committed to taking the summer off. He had spent 17 years hosting at the network, anchoring two hours of prime-time programming five times a week and then a three-hour stretch in the early mornings as the co-host of its audacious morning show.

However, it didn't take long before Lemon abruptly ended his planned sabbatical to get back to the news.

“I started thinking halfway through, ‘I better get back to work because I’m loving this way too much,'” Lemon said on this week’s episode of Press Club.

Lemon decided to launch his own digital show, which was built as The Don Lemon Show — an interview-based news program that launched on YouTube, iHeartRadio and, most notoriously, X.

Musk, the billionaire owner of X, spent months trying to convince Lemon to join the social media platform where Tucker Carlson, who was excommunicated from Fox News, launched his own show. According to Lemon, Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino saw the former CNN host as an advertiser-friendly media star who would lend mainstream credibility to a platform seen as increasingly descending into extremism and misinformation.

Lemon’s first episode of the new show was set to be an hour-plus interview with Musk at Tesla’s headquarters in Austin, Texas.

The conversation started off friendly between the two but eventually became controversial. Lemon asked about a range of subjects: SpaceX, Tesla, Musk’s use of ketamine to treat depression, misinformation, and anti-Semitism on X. A stone-faced Musk grew increasingly frustrated and repeatedly instructed Lemon to wrap up — allegedly coming very close to storming off the set.

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The next day, Musk texted Lemon’s agent, UTA’s Jay Sures, telling him that their contract with the axed CNN host was "terminated."

Lemon broke the news of the implosion of his heal with X last week, leading many online to raise questions about Musk’s ability to handle scrutiny.

The episode was eventually aired and has garnered over 812,000 views on YouTube.

Mediaite provided quotes and sources used in this article.