Media

Not Just Tucker: Elon Musk Also Wants Don Lemon to Start a Twitter Show

‘MAYBE WORTH A TRY’

Lemon, who was fired from CNN the same day that Fox News canned Carlson, has largely avoided the spotlight since his ouster.

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ANDREW KELLY

Hours after former Fox News star Tucker Carlson announced he will soon launch a “new version” of his show on Twitter, the struggling social-media platform’s “Chief Twit” wondered if another recently fired cable host would be willing to take the plunge. “Have you considered doing your show on this platform? Maybe worth a try. Audience is much bigger,” Elon Musk tweeted at Don Lemon on Tuesday night. Musk was responding to Lemon’s April 24 post revealing that CNN fired the longtime anchor, which incidentally happened just moments after Fox News axed Carlson. With Fox News attempting to sideline Carlson until his contract runs out in early 2025, the far-right commentator has aggressively pushed back and accused the network of fraud and breach of contract. While Carlson’s Twitter show would appear to violate his contract, his attorney Bryan Freedman sent Fox a letter before the announcement arguing the noncompete clause is no longer valid. Lemon, who has kept a low profile since his exit, has also retained Freedman to negotiate his terms with CNN. For his part, Musk insists Twitter has “not signed a deal of any kind” with Carlson and the ex-Fox host “is subject to the same rules & rewards of all content creators,” suggesting that Carlson would receive the standard subscription revenue-sharing arrangement the site recently launched. Since Musk took over Twitter, ad revenue has plummeted as national brands have balked over the edgelord billionaire’s drastic changes to the site’s content policies.

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