Don Lemon After CNN: ‘Not Perfect,’ Working Out Future

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon has opened up in his first television interview two months after he was fired, commenting that he’s still figuring out his next moves since being let go after 17 years on the news network, and saying he’s “not a perfect person.”

“I’m not going to force anything,” he told ABC 24 Memphis in an interview airing over the weekend. “I’m not going to let other people’s timelines influence me. I know people say, ‘I miss you on television. What is your next move?’ I’m figuring that out.”

But, he added, “I don’t have to be in a rush. I think people rush and they end up making the wrong decisions. They rush into a relationship, and they end up marrying the wrong person. They rush into a job, and end up in the wrong house; the wrong car. I’m not rushing into anything.”

In late April, Lemon announced on Twitter that he was “stunned” that the network fired him.

A few months before he was fired, he was temporarily suspended on the air after his comments about GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley, when he said she wasn’t “in her prime” as a woman in her 50s, because in his opinion, a woman is “considered to be in her prime — in her 20s, 30s and maybe her 40s.”

Meanwhile, former CNN chief executive Chris Licht was fired from the network weeks after Lemon was let go. Critics say Lemon’s firing was one of Licht’s mistakes. 

Last year, after Licht took over at CNN, he switched Lemon from his prime time show to a new morning show where he became one of three co-hosts, in a move that at the time was seen as a demotion.

Now, Lemon tells the Memphis network that he believes matters in his life come down to truth and responsibility.

“I have a responsibility as an American — not only as a journalist — to tell the truth and abide by the promises of the Constitution,” Lemon said. “The Constitution says a more perfect union — not a perfect union. I’m not perfect. No one is, but I think to fulfill the promise of the Constitution, we have to stand up for what is right. We have to stand up for the truth.” 

But Lemon says it’s important to remain true to himself. 

“I don’t believe in platforming liars and bigots, insurrectionists and election deniers and putting them on the same footing as people who are telling the truth; people who are fighting for what’s right, people who are abiding by the Constitution,” Lemon said. “I think that would be a dereliction of journalistic duty to do those sorts of things.” 

He added that, rather than being worried about his career, he will be spending time with his fiance, real estate agent Tim Malone, and their dogs. 

“I’m not worried about it at all,” he said. “People are more worried about me than I am about myself. I am fine. I have somebody looking out for me.”