CNN’s Don Lemon is in the middle of a career meltdown, and I hope all decent people are taking the time to stop and enjoy it.
Sometimes we miss it when wonderful things happen. We’re all so busy going about our day that we fail to see the beauty of life right before our eyes. Sure, we can always look back and smile, but that’s not the same as embracing and enjoying it in real-time, and in real-time, Don Lemon is destroying his disgraced career. So, I thought it was important to point that out so we can share this moment together.
Let’s start with the obvious: ratings.
Don Lemon was already delivering humiliating ratings during his primetime show. He’s so awful that in a country of 330 million people, not even a half-million tuned in.
But why would anyone watch a guy who’s been credibly accused of sexual assault and who has spent years lying to his audience, race-baiting, and encouraging domestic terrorism?
So what did CNN do with this proven failure?
File/Don Lemon and boyfriend attend the “Clive Davis: The Soundtrack Of Our Lives” 2017 Opening Gala of the Tribeca Film Festival at Radio City Music Hall on April 19, 2017 in NYC. (Taylor Hill/Getty)
Well, newly installed CNN chief Chris Licht — who was obviously hired to finish CNN off for good — looked at Don Lemon, saw that he could check two diversity boxes, and moved the aging anchor to mornings. CNN’s previous morning show, New Day, was a ratings catastrophe, so Licht likely saw this as a safe move. I mean, the ratings couldn’t get any worse, right?
Right?
Ahem.
And now the ratings are at a ten-year low.
To be fair, CNN This Morning’s humiliating ratings are not all Lemon’s fault. His co-anchors — Poppy Harlow and Kaitlin Collins — have all the charm, warmth, sex appeal, and charisma of a first wife.
Alan Cumming and Don Lemon attend the Michael Kors Collection Fall/Winter 2023 Runway Show on February 15, 2023 in New York City. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Michael Kors)
And so, here we are…
The 56-year-old Lemon might not be terribly bright, but he’s also not dumb. He knows CNN This Morning is it. If this show doesn’t succeed, his next move is to HasbeenVille; is to Didn’t you used to be Don Lemon?; is to Twitter-ranting next to Keith Olbermann. And how is Lemon handling this pressure as he stares into the abyss of his career? Well, that’s the great part. He’s having a total meltdown right before our eyes, which is something I don’t want y’all to miss.
Just a couple of weeks ago, we learned that Lemon was screaming at his co-host, Nurse Ratched, for interrupting him or something.
And then on Thursday — lol — Don Lemon said women over 40 aren’t in their prime.
He said that on the air!
He said that in front of two women!
That is meltdown behavior. Lemon is freaking out over his imminent career demise, which has made him desperate. So he was almost certainly looking create a moment by 1) torpedoing 51-year-old Republican Nikki Haley’s attack on 187-year-old Democrat Joe Biden and 2) alpha male the discussion. And what did he do instead? The idiot torpedoed himself.
After publishing a mewling apology on Twitter Thusday afternoon, we learned on Friday that Don has the day off… Yes, Don did not appear on CNN This Morning this morning.
Why?
Because Don is melting down.
This reminds of Fredo’s year-long meltdown (which I also enjoyed). Like Lemon, Chris Cuomo is a spoiled, entitled neurotic, and like Lemon, Chris Cuomo could not get out of his own way. Cuomo was eventually fired, and now Don has the day off.
CNN anchors Kaitlan Collins, from left, Don Lemon and Poppy Harlow appear at the 16th annual CNN Heroes All-Star Tribute on Dec. 11, 2022, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
Instead of being a professional and doing the job, which is the only thing that will save his career, Lemon is wearing hoodies, screaming at co-workers, and spewing anti-science stuff about women peaking at 40.
This is so much fun.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here.