Elon Musk invited Don Lemon — who last month was fired from CNN following a string of gaffes as co-host of “CNN This Morning” — to revive his career by launching a show on Twitter.
“Have you considered doing your show on this platform? Maybe worth a try,” Musk wrote early Wednesday in reply to Lemon’s fiery tweet posted on April 24, the day he was let go from CNN.
“Audience is much bigger,” Musk added.
As of midday Wednesday, Lemon — who had tweeted last month that he was blindsided by the news of his firing just hours after his final broadcast — had not replied to Musk.
A rep for Lemon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Lemon was let go from CNN last month amid a slew of scandals, including sexist remarks aimed at 51-year-old GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who he said was not “in her prime,” as well as clashes with his “CNN This Morning” co-host Kaitlan Collins.
At the time, the embattled, 57-year-old anchor tweeted that he was never given “any indication” that he would not be able to keep working at CNN — a bone of contention with the network — and he has since hired a lawyer to look into his termination.
Musk’s timely job offer comes a day after former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who was coincidentally also let go from his network on April 24, said he would launch a show on Twitter.
In a video posted on his Twitter feed, the right-wing pundit announced his decision to make a version of his show on the Musk-run platform as “there aren’t many platforms left that allow free speech.”
Musk confirmed his platform was nonpartisan — but also made it clear that Carlson would be subject to the same scrutiny and criticism like any of Twitter’s content creators.
“On this platform, unlike the one-way street of broadcast, people are able to interact, critique and refute whatever he or anyone may say,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday. He added that “we have not signed a deal of any kind whatsoever. Tucker is subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators.”
Musk added that he would like creators from both sides of the aisle to launch programming on Twitter.
“I hope that many others, particularly from the left, also choose to be content creators on this platform,” Musk tweeted.
Carlson’s move to Twitter comes after Fox agreed to pay $787.5 million to settle Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit that alleged the network and its hosts spread false claims about the 2020 presidential election. Carlson was let go seven days after news of the settlement broke.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
