Monday, during an appearance on CBS’s “The Late Show,” CNN morning show co-host Don Lemon reflected on the recent shake-up in his network’s leadership.
When asked by “Late Show” host Stephen Colbert if the network’s new leadership was putting boundaries on the outspoken ideological perspectives of CNN talent, Lemon was dismissive of claims that there ever was an ideological slant.
“Word on the street is that you guys aren’t allowed to be liberal anymore,” Colbert said. “Is that the case?”
“I don’t think we ever were liberal,” Lemon replied.
“What?” Colbert said. “That’s not me saying that. That’s the people out there saying he’s not letting you be liberal anymore.”
“Well, listen – I think what Chris [Licht] is saying is that he wants Republicans, sensible Republicans,” Lemon said. “He wants us to hold people to account, but he wants people to come on and feel comfortable with coming on and talking on CNN and appearing on CNN. So if you invite someone to your house, you want to make them comfortable, but also, by the nature of what we do, we have to hold people to account.”
“And so that doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going liberal or conservative or whatever – it just means that we are doing what we do, and that’s good journalism,” Lemon said.
“So accountable but not confrontational,” Colbert replied.
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