Level Q
Don Lemon Is Out of Fucks to Give
One of few Black journalists to anchor a prime-time news show, Lemon keeps a candid camera
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Don Lemon loves the moment — in all its complexity. The CNN anchor has been hate-tweeted from both sides of the color line, mocked by Dave Chappelle and slammed by Donald Trump. He’s admonished Black boys for sagging their pants, and issued an on-air smackdown to actor Terry Crews in defense of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The rare Black journalist to anchor a prime-time news show, Lemon backs up his chippiness with chops, refusing to suffer fools or sycophants. When former Ohio Gov. John Kasich praised the tone of a recent Trump speech about coronavirus, Lemon pressed him in a heated exchange: “You think inaccurate information — where you have to clarify three or four times — you think that’s fine?” Kasich was visibly flustered; Lemon kept his foot on the gas, running laps around the former governor until the commercial break.
After a childhood spent in Baton Rouge, Lemon cut his teeth on air in Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Chicago before signing with CNN in 2006 as a correspondent. Now, at 54, the veteran…
