Tag: Don Lemon

Posted on

CNN’s Don Lemon Announces Engagement

CNN Tonight anchor Don Lemon announced he is engaged to boyfriend Tim Malone after the real estate agent popped the question while celebrating his birthday.
CNN host Don Lemon with fiancé Tim Malone

CNN Tonight anchor Don Lemon announced he is engaged to boyfriend Tim Malone after the real estate agent popped the question while celebrating his birthday.

The 53-year-old anchor shared the news on his social media with a photo of their two dogs’ collars asking “Daddy Will You Marry Papa?” Lemon added the caption, “He gave me a present on his birthday. How could I say no?”

The couple have been dating since 2016.

A post shared by Don Lemon (@donlemoncnn) on Apr 6, 2019 at 12:26pm PDT
Posted on

Trump In 2013: Presidents Should Be Fired For Government Shutdowns

CNN host Don Lemon took a trip on the way-back machine last night by airing a 2013 video of Donald Trump saying then-President Obama should be fired over a government shutdown.
Donald Trump

CNN host Don Lemon took a trip on the way-back machine last night by airing a 2013 video of Donald Trump saying then-President Obama should be fired over a government shutdown.

Lemon first ran down a list of those agencies and employees that are affected by the current Trump shutdown of the federal government:

• 380K federal employees on leave without pay
• 420K working without pay including 41,000 law enforcement and correctional officers, and tens of thousands of Customs and Border Patrol agents and customs officers.

Lemon then aired a clip from 2013 where Trump told Fox News: “If you say, ‘Who gets fired?’ it always has to be the top. Problems start from the top and they have to get solved from the top.”

“The president is the leader, he has to get everyone in a room and lead,” Trump continued.

Lemon calls the now-ironic remark “priceless.”

Posted on

Megyn Kelly Steps In It Over Blackface, Don Lemon Calls Her Out, Kelly Apologizes

Megyn Kelly of The Today Show

Today Show host Megan Kelly got into hot water yesterday when she questioned why blackface wasn’t ok for Halloween?

Seriously?

During a round-table conversation about Halloween costumes, Kelly said that blackface was, “OK when I was a kid as long as you were dressing like a character,” and said she doubted whether blackface was actually racist.

“What is racist?” she asked. “Because you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface on Halloween.”

Umm, yeah. You do.

Kelly sent a memo to staffers at NBC apologizing for her lack of understanding:

When we had the roundtable discussion earlier today about the controversy of making your face look like a different race as part of a Halloween costume, I suggested that this seemed okay if done as part of this holiday where people have the chance to make themselves look like others. The iconic Diana Ross came up as an example. To me, I thought, why would it be controversial for someone dressing up asDiana Ross to make herself look like this amazing woman as a way of honoring and respecting her?

I realize now that such behavior is indeed wrong, and I am sorry. The history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent; the wounds too deep.

I’ve never been a “pc” kind of person — but I understand that we do need to be more sensitive in this day and age. Particularly on race and ethnicity issues which, far from being healed, have been exacerbated in our politics over the past year.

Last night, on CNN, hosts Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon discussed the debacle. Lemon came straight out of the gate with a truth bomb saying, “Megyn is 47 years old, she’s our age, there has never been a time in her 47 years that blackface has been acceptable.”

Today, Kelly began her show with an apology:

Posted on

CNN’s Don Lemon Claps Back At Trump For LeBron James ‘Dumb’ Tweet

Don Lemon

CNN’s Don Lemon clapped back at Donald Trump for the ridiculously racist tweet the Cheeto-in-Chief shared last week about the news anchor and LeBron James.

On August 4, Trump tweeted, “Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!”

LeBron had just opened a school for 240 at-risk kids.

Lemon, who Trump apparently ‘hate watches,’ reacted last night saying:

“Let me not mince words here. This president traffics in racism and is fueled by bullying. President Trump is trying a divide-and-conquer strategy here and here’s how it goes. He divides by race and tries to conquer decency by smearing and besmirching the truth and the people who fight to uphold it. Referring to African-Americans as dumb is one of the oldest canards of America’s racist past and present — that black people are of inferior intelligence.

“Unlike this president who lashes out wildly at anyone who criticizes him, LeBron James — in addition to being a brilliant black man, a superstar in his sport, and a hero to his community — is taking the high road, which is exactly where he belongs.”

A few more choice reactions from the Twitterverse:

Posted on

News Round-Up: January 2, 2018

Some news items you might have missed:

• Fitness trainer Terron Beckham (above) was giving you all kinds of super-hero vibes on New Years Day. #woof

• Two men have been arrested in connection with a Christmas holiday murder that left a lesbian couple and their two of their three children dead in upstate New York.

• Watching CNN’s coverage of New Year’s Eve, I felt like Anderson Cooper and new co-host Andy Cohen lacked the right chemistry for what is normally an upbeat broadcast. It looks like a lot of the Twitterverse agreed with my assessment. But CNN’s Don Lemon kissing his bf on the air was fun 🙂

• The Advocate has an excellent article on flexing the power of the LGBT community’s trillion dollar economic clout. First step, support LGBT-owned companies. Second, read the article.

• After filling in for over a month for the departed Matt Lauer (fired for alleged sexual misconduct), Hoda Kotb was named co-anchor of “Today” on this morning. She will headline the 7-9AM segment of the morning show with Savannah Guthrie, as well as continue to host the 10AM hour with Kathie Lee Gifford.

• Platinum-selling recording artist BØRNS releases his latest track, “God Save Our Young Blood feat. Lana Del Rey,” ahead of his sophomore album Blue Madonna which is set for release on January 12, 2018.

If you were to suppose BØRNS and Lana Del Rey seems like a totally logical teaming, you’d be right. Listen below.

Posted on

News Round-Up: August 24, 2017

Steve Raider via Instagram

Some news items you may have missed:

• Model Steve Raider’s prescription for a happy life, “A smile a day,” accomplishes his goal; at least on my end 🙂

• Powerball announced that a single ticket sold at a convenience store in Chicopee, Mass., was the winner of Wednesday night’s $758.7 million jackpot, the second-largest lottery prize in U.S. history. Can you imagine? I can 🙂

• India’s Supreme Court has ruled that privacy is a “Personal Liberty guaranteed in Article 21 of the Constitution.” The ruling has implications for several other issues, including sexual rights and freedoms for LGBTs.

• The city of Athens, Ohio joined Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo, and Dayton in banning the dangerous and discredited practice of “conversion therapy” on minors.

• For 12 hours, MTV Australia is replacing its regular lineup with an automated message urging Aussies to make sure and sign up for upcoming marriage equality mail-in vote.

• Anderson Cooper calmly and methodically offers this epic takedown of Donald Trump’s lies and attempts to rewrite history at his rally in Phoenix earlier this week.

CNN host Don Lemon also offered his take on the Trumpster’s speech: “a total eclipse of the facts” and “without reason.”

Posted on

CNN’s Don Lemon Shuts Down Trump Surrogate Who Couldn’t Answer Direct Question

Wow. Things got testy last night on CNN when Donald Trump surrogate Omarosa Manigualt tried to avoid a direct answer to a question posed by anchor Don Lemon.

Via Raw Story:

Lemon began the segment by asking asking former Apprentice star and Trump backer Omarosa Manigualt about the Trump campaign’s “over the top” attack on Heidi Cruz on Twitter.

Omarosa began by saying “I don’t think we should start there” and attempted to talk about the Super PAC that ran an ad featuring a cheesecake photo of Melania Trump, only to have the CNN host shut her down.

“No no no. I’m not gonna let you do that. Omarosa, stop! ” Lemon said.

“Omarosa, stop! Okay, let’s stop. Cut the mic” he continued as she tried to talk over him. “We’re not doing that. I want everyone on this panel to answer the question directly, and I will let you –”

“You can ask questions, but you can’t answer them, Don,” Omarosa interrupted, leading to Lemon to cut the segment short with “We’ll be right back” before going to commercial.

Personally, I support Lemon here. I’ve grown weary of candidates or their representatives ducking/avoiding answer direct questions. You can get to your “spin” but answer the questions posed to you.

Trump’s people will say Omarosa wasn’t giving the proper “anti-Trump” answer. But, seriously people, stop I’m showing up to news shows with only pre-packaged talking points, with the intention to only deflect to scripted sound bites.

Posted on

CNN’s Don Lemon To Kathy Griffin On The Air: “Nice Rack”

During a stroll through Times Square with Anderson Cooper during the CNN coverage of New Year’s Eve, comedian Kathy Griffin dropped her coast to walk sans blouse.

CNN’s Don Lemon remarked from New Orleans to Griffin, “nice rack – didn’t know you had all that going on up there.”

Lemon, who is openly gay, was also sipping from a cup during the evening which his co-host Brooke Baldwin took from him after the comment.

Anderson Cooper (also openly gay) responded to Griffin dropping her coat with “you’ve got a rocking bod, I have to say.”

Thoughts? Was this a bad thing? Was it just New Year’s Eve antics? Does it matter that Lemon or Cooper are gay? If a straight male news anchor told a guest they had a “nice rack” would that fly?

Or are folks just bored and making a mountain out of two nicely “racked” mole hills?

Posted on

Out CNN News Anchor Don Lemon Makes “Worst Journalism of 2104” List

Openly gay CNN news anchor Don Lemon finds himself on a “Year End” list nobody really wants to be on – “Worst Journalism of 2014.”

The Columbia Journalism Review’s recap of the year’s “most cringeworthy news blunders” included the out anchor because of a series of off kilter moments that made headlines this year.

“Live television is exceedingly difficult to produce, of course, but Lemon’s gaffes this year offer a case study in how to choose words wisely — or not,” wrote David Uberti.

Among Lemon’s 2014 gaffes listed were mentioning the “obvious” smell of marijuana during the Ferguson riots, asking in seriousness if a black hole might have been responsible for the disappearance of Malaysia Flight 370, and comparing spanking children to dog training.