‘Says It All’: Don Lemon Claims Vindication After CNN Fired Chris Licht — Who Fired Him

Don Lemon believes he’s been vindicated from his ouster at CNN after Chris Licht, the CEO who fired him, was also let go.

Lemon spoke out for one of the first times since being fired as he co-hosted Kara Swisher’s podcast Pivot. During their interaction, she questioned him about how his departure played out from his perspective.

“I’ll tell you what I’ve come to know now that I didn’t know at the time, that more so than anything that the CNN, the strategy and their content and the direction they wanted to go in that I was not a part of that, that they did not want me to be a part of that. And I think that has, from what has played out publicly as it relates to CNN, as it relates to management and what they’re doing now, I think is it’s obvious that they didn’t want me to be a part of that. And I think that’s the real issue that happened,” Lemon said.

Swisher noted that when Licht took over CNN as the CEO he made it a mission to have the network take a more centrist approach in their reporting.

“Did you, do you think you don’t fit into the new CNN or that they made the changes? Because it’s not that different from when you were there in terms of reporting and other things?” Swisher asked.

Lemon noted that he has not watched the network since he left in April.

“When I was there, I was not a part of their strategy. And as you just said, they wanted to be centrist and they wanted to move the network in a certain direction, which was kind of a bit surprising because I think the news is the news. And you don’t choose the direction. It just is,” Lemon explained.

“So what do you think people got wrong about you leaving? And and what happened later is the person who had really fired you essentially got fired,” Swisher said.

“I think that says it all. I mean, what more do I need to say?” Lemon said before saying that he has had zero contact with Licht since.

“Do you think it vindicates you,” Swisher asked.

“Yes, I do,” Lemon said. “Read the story and you speak to the people who are there and I think people get what happened. All you have to do is read The Atlantic story, read the subsequent stories that came out and you know how it played out. And. They’re gone now. So do I feel vindicated in that sense? Yes, I do.”

Lemon referenced The Atlantic article which was a scathing profile of Licht and widely seen as an indictment of his failed attempt to revamp CNN, five days after it was published he was fired.

Listen above via The Pivot Podcast with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway.