Elon Musk’s terse behavior during the tail end of his contentious interview with Don Lemon was a “tactic,” the former CNN host told the Mediaite podcast “Press Club” Wednesday.
Musk hurried things along by telling Lemon that he only had a certain amount of time left, and that he had “a whole room full of people” nearby waiting for him.
Lemon was asked by Mediaite’s Aidan McLaughlin about how things wrapped up.
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“I hear that’s a tactic,” Lemon said of Musk’s clock watching. “I’ve heard he’s done that with other interviewers, but whatever.”
Lemon’s show had been scheduled to run on Musk’s platform until the billionaire pulled the plug last week, having griped that Lemon’s “approach was basically just ‘CNN, but on social media.’”
It was a disingenuous statement, Lemon said, given the fact that Musk has supported several other television hosts in joining the platform.
“I found it very telling when Elon Musk tweeted that I was doing the same thing that I did on CNN. That’s why he hired me,” Lemon said. “There’s another former cable news anchor on this platform who’s doing exactly what he did on Fox News,” he added, referring to right-wing firebrand Tucker Carlson.
“But he’s not complaining about that,” Lemon said. “So there you go.”
In an interview with the billionaire last week, Lemon questioned Musk’s stated commitment to free speech, calling it “maybe talking points for him.”
Lemon’s show is now being broadcast on YouTube.
