‘spectacular’ example ‘of a white man failing up’ – Business News
Former CNN anchor Don Lemon trashed his ex-boss and “unqualified” white males basically in a long-winded, racially charged essay about the top of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Lemon’s outrageous feedback got here in a Substack screed revealed Thursday that famous Chris Licht got here from CBS to CNN, the place he finally axed the journo.
The journo referred to Licht, who was an government producer for Colbert earlier than turning into chair and CEO of CNN, as “one of essentially the most spectacular examples of a white man failing up that I’ve witnessed on this industry.
Don Lemon lambasted his ex-boss at CNN Chris Licht, who ousted him, in an essay blaming unqualified “white men” that run legacy media.
“Profoundly unqualified. Visibly incompetent. Elevated anyway,” the ex-anchor raved. “Because that is how that world protects certain people and discards others. And the people it discards are almost always the ones making the powerful uncomfortable.”
Licht’s tumultuous 13-month reign at CNN — which included a mandate from higher-ups to maneuver the community’s left-leaning protection towards the political heart — was marred by slumping scores and sinking worker morale, in addition to the disastrous launch of a new morning show.
That program was helmed by Kaitlan Collins, Poppy Harlow and Lemon, who was ousted after he made sexist remarks about politician Nikki Haley and clashed along with his co-anchors.
In his weblog post, titled “Don’t cry for Stephen Colbert. Cry for the First Amendment,” Lemon didn’t handle his own missteps however opted to give attention to race.
TV “is a world that has been extraordinarily good to a very specific kind of person. White men who fail spectacularly and are promoted for it,” he wrote.
“White men who make catastrophic decisions and are handed bigger offices for it. White men who are visibly, demonstrably unqualified and are given more power anyway.”
Lemon took a swipe at his previous boss, Chris Licht, calling him “visibly incompetent.” Getty Images for CNN
Lemon claimed his ouster stemmed from his criticism of Republicans.
“The networks didn’t like me asking conservatives hard questions. CNN didn’t like the mirror I was holding up every night,” he wrote.
“So they pushed me out. And I thought: if it happened to me it will happen to others. It will trickle down. Or up. Depending on how you look at it. Now it has trickled all the way to late night television.”
Lemon lamented the top of Colbert’s show, speculating that it was cancelled after the host publicly criticized Trump’s settlement with CBS-parent Paramount. CBS
Lemon famous Colbert’s show was dropping $40 million to $50 million a 12 months, in response to CBS.
But he emphasised what’s “also true” is that Colbert’s “cancellation” was introduced “two days after Colbert publicly criticized Trump’s settlement with Paramount, CBS’s father or mother company, over a ’60 Minutes’ interview with Kamala Harris.“
Calling Colbert “brilliant,” Lemon mentioned the late-night host will discover a new chapter after his final show on Thursday, including that the “real victim” is the First Amendment and journalism.
