Don Lemon Sues Elon Musk and X Over Canceled Show

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Facts

• Former CNN host Don Lemon on Thursday sued Elon Musk and his social media platform X (formerly Twitter) after a $1.5M one-year deal to host a talk show on the billionaire's platform was revoked.^[1]
• After Lemon was fired from CNN over controversial comments about then-Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley in April last year, Musk reached out to him to launch a new show on X.^[2][3]
• However, after just one episode of 'The Don Lemon Show' — in which Musk was the guest and was asked about his drug use and alleged hate speech on X — Musk abruptly canceled the deal.^[4]
• Shortly after, Musk wrote on X that Lemon's approach 'was basically just 'CNN, but on social media.' Lemon's lawsuit comes less than five months after the deal fell through.^[5]
• In the lawsuit filed in the San Francisco Superior Court, Lemon accused Musk and X of fraud, negligent misrepresentation, misappropriation of his name and likeness, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment.^[6]
• He also alleges that Musk and X 'deliberately misrepresented what they intended to do' and used the news of their content deal to boost X's profile, then scrapped it without compensating him. Musk hasn't commented on the suit.^[7][8]

Sources: ^[1]Al Jazeera, ^[2]BBC News, ^[3]New York Times, ^[4]CNN, ^[5]CBS, ^[6]NBC, ^[7]CNBC and ^[8]New York Post.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by CNBC. Musk and X sought Lemon to revitalize the platform after dozens of advertisers pulled out over its content moderation policies. Musk must compensate and pay for damages after unfairly terminating the multi-million-dollar partnership deal.
• Right narrative, as provided by New York Post. During negotiations, Lemon sought out numerous benefits, and Musk had generously agreed to pay him several financial perks. Could he really be so surprised that the deal was canceled once he went after the man paying his bills?

Predictions