Elon Musk and Don Lemon are going through a nasty professional breakup, and now things are getting downright silly.
On Wednesday, Lemon announced that Musk had pulled the plug on his forthcoming show on the billionaire’s social media site, saying that the temperamental X owner hadn’t liked the questions Lemon asked him during an interview.
Musk has responded by echoing claims that Lemon had been asking for too much from the company in return for his new gig.
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On Friday, the New York Post reported that Lemon had requested a free Tesla Cybertruck, an upfront payment of $5 million, on top of a hefty $8 million salary. Lemon had also requested a stake in the company, as well as approval rights for any changes made to X’s policy around news content, according to a document reviewed by the Post.
One source told the Post that Lemon had also requested a flight to Las Vegas for him and his fiancé, as well as free massages and drinks paid for by X. Despite all of these outlandish demands, Musk decided to forge ahead with the interview, the Post reported.
Musk must’ve seen the story because on Friday evening, he tweeted, calling the former CNN anchor, “Don ‘Veruca Salt,’” after the spoiled child who screeched, “I want it now!” in the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
On Wednesday, Lemon revealed what he said was the real reason the deal was scrapped. While appearing on CNN, he aired a clip of the killed interview in which he asked the X CEO about the rise of hate speech on his app, to which Musk flailed with no response at all.
“I don’t have to answer these questions,” Musk said. “I don’t have to answer questions from reporters. Don, the only reason I’m doing this interview is because you’re on the X platform and you asked for it. Otherwise, I would not do this interview.”
