Don Lemon sued Elon Musk on Thursday over their botched partnership earlier this year, alleging the Twitter-turned-X owner used the ex-CNN star to bolster their ad revenue before canceling a deal over Lemon’s contentious interview with Musk.
In a lawsuit filed in California state court on Thursday against Musk and other X executives, Lemon alleged the group “enriched and gained the benefits of using Lemon’s name, likeness, identity, and reputation” by securing the deal before walking it back.
Lemon claimed Musk promised to pay him $1.5 million a year and a cut of ad revenue his show generated, which would bolster the company’s sagging ad sales following Musk’s purchase of Twitter and management of the company, which saw the resurgence of previously blocked right-wing characters.
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But after a chaotic interview in March, where Lemon questioned Musk about his personal drug use and his embrace of right-wing conspiracies, Musk “reneged on their express agreement.”
“You don’t have to be a genius to see the fraud, negligence, and reputational damage here,” Carney Shegerian, Lemon’s attorney, said in a statement. “Don’s a hard-hitting journalist who’s committed to defending his good name. We look forward to our day in court.”
X did not immediately return a request for comment.
The company allegedly approached Lemon in January about a partnership, nine months after CNN fired the anchor. Musk allegedly told Lemon that the deal could be finalized over the phone and that there was no need to “fill out paperwork,” according to the lawsuit. The arrangement would not be compromised even if Musk didn’t appreciate Lemon’s views, the billionaire told the journalist, according to the filing.
Then came the March interview, where Lemon pressed Musk about his ketamine prescription and his dabbling in the Great Replacement Theory, the idea that Democrats had an “incentive” to systematically allow undocumented immigrants to flock to liberal states to affect the state’s apportionment of both House seats and electoral college votes.
Musk abruptly canceled the deal days before the interview was set to air. “His commitment to a global town square where all questions can be asked and all ideas can be shared seems not to include questions of him from people like me,” Lemon wrote at the time.
Lemon is seeking the money he would have earned from the deal and a jury trial on his case’s merits, according to the filing.
