‘So Cringe!’ Ex-CNN Host Don Lemon Roasts His Old Employer for Experimenting With Podcast-Like Setups

Former CNN host Don Lemon explained Wednesday why he’s not a fan of his former employer experimenting with a new podcast-like look in its programming.

In recent days, regular CNN viewers have likely noticed that a handful of its shows appeared different. The Lead with Jake Tapper, for example, took place from Tapper’s home office. There, he sat at his desk and spoke into a large microphone typically set in the average podcast setup. Anderson Cooper 360 featured something similar, but Cooper did the show from what looked to be CNN’s newsroom. To add to the more laid-back nature of the show, Cooper also sported a loosened tie and removed his suit jacket.

Speaking to Mediaite founding Colby Hall on Wednesday’s episode of The Don Lemon Show, Lemon explained why the experiment was “cringe” in his eyes:

To me, it’s cringe because the reason people watch CNN is for the credibility of Jake, and Anderson, and [Erin Burnett]; and there is you know sort of this illusion, if you want to put it that way, about television news. It’s larger than life, the colors are brighter than in real life, it’s big fancy sets that glow, and that’s what it is.

But ultimately, that’s eye candy. What people tune in for is the editorial. It is whatever the network is, how they are– the tone and tenor of their news, and for credibility. It’s not because someone is speaking into a podcast mic with their sleeves rolled up. And I would lean into it. We’re f*cking CNN! Yeah, we look great, but also we’re going to have a backbone and we’re going to have some teeth into our editorial, and we’re going to hold this administration accountable. We’re not going to put on election deniers. We’re not going to put on people who come on just to to lie.

But anyways, it’s just– I don’t know. They’re trying something. I give them credit for that, but it is so cringe to watch. I’m just being honest.

Hall agreed, adding that CNN was “trying to be like” Lemon in the current stage of his post-CNN career.

“And let’s just break down why,” Hall began. “You have a strong point of view. You have an audience. You, above all else, are authentic, right? And I think that’s what works well with the podcast world, is that you get the sense that it’s not that– you are professional, you can speak in clean copy and are well media trained, but you don’t have to vet scripts and what you say through legal and through executives, so that you come across as very, very authentic and smart.

“The problem that I have here is this sort of tries to mimic the authenticity of what you do and what other podcasters do in the most performative and sort of phony way.”

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