Sources say Don Lemon’s job is on the chopping block as co-host of CNN’s low-rated morning show.
The flamboyant, openly gay news anchor was suspended on Thursday after he made sexist comments about GOP candidate Nikki Haley, 51.
According to DailyMail.com, Lemon, 56, and his female co-hosts discussed Nikki Haley’s proposal to require competency tests for politicians older than 75.
Haley made the comments in light of 80-year-old President Biden’s apparent cognitive decline.
Lemon, a lifelong Democrat and vocal Biden supporter, said Haley shouldn’t run for president because she’s way “past her prime.”
He apologized for his comments on Thursday, but it was too little, too late.
“The reference I made to a woman’s ‘prime’ this morning was inartful and irrelevant, as colleagues and loved ones have pointed out, and I regret it,” he tweeted.
“A woman’s age doesn’t define her either personally or professionally. I have countless women in my life who prove that every day.”
Co-host Kaitlin Collins opened Friday’s show by saying Lemon “has the day off” as Poppy Harlow joked that she was going to “complain to bosses” after going to the all-star NBA game in Utah this weekend.
CNN rubbed salt in Lemon’s wound by replacing him with Audia Cornish, a Black female journalist who is former co-host of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
The writing was on the wall when CNN changed ownership and the new owner’s demoted Lemon to the morning show with two young female co-hosts.
CNN’s new bosses had hoped that Lemon would hate being surrounded by women and quit the job.
CNN’s chairman, Chris Licht, said Lemon’s comments left him “disappointed.”
“His remarks were upsetting, unacceptable and unfair to his co-hosts, and ultimately a huge distraction to the great work of this organization,” Licht told his staff in a 9 a.m. editorial call on Friday, according to The New York Times.
Watch the video below.
