Former CNN Host Don Lemon Takes Swipe at Nikki Haley for Wanting ‘Grace’ When She Didn’t Offer Any to Him

Former CNN host Don Lemon took a swipe at GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Thursday, criticizing her for wanting “grace” after her “poor choice of words” when she didn’t offer the same to him when he “misspoke” about her.

For those of our readers who are lucky enough to live an existence where you were able to avoid social media and cable news for the past 24 hours, Haley kicked a massive hornets’ nest with her comments at a New Hampshire town hall Wednesday night when she was asked about the cause of the Civil War:

“Well, don’t come with an easy question,” Haley joked before saying, “I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do. What do you think the cause of the Civil War was?”

“I’m not running for president,” the man said, which led Haley to suggest the role of government was the primary catalyst behind the war.

“In the year 2023 it’s astonishing to me that you would answer that question without mentioning the word ‘slavery,’” the man eventually told Haley. To this, she retorted “What do you want me to say about slavery?”

“You’ve answered my question, thank you,” the man said, and Haley moved on.

Since then, Haley has faced a barrage of criticism from all across the partisan political spectrum (including, predictably, from her Republican primary opponents) — although she did find some defenders on Fox & Friends Thursday morning.

As for Lemon, he was terminated from CNN in April a few days after a tension-filled interview with Vivek Ramaswamy — and just a few months after his own headline-generating comments about Haley being “not in her prime” age during a February episode of his short-lived gig on CNN This Morning.

Like Haley is now, Lemon was hit with bipartisan condemnation and a few hours later, he apologized for his “inartful and irrelevant” remarks.

Haley blasted Lemon for being “sexist” in February and after news broke of his firing, took a victory lap on The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter, calling it “[a] great day for women everywhere.” She also posted a photo and link to buy beer koozies to benefit her campaign fundraising account.

On Thursday, Lemon weighed in on Haley’s new troubles and mentioned how she not just bashed him, but sold merch.

“Nikki Haley wants grace for using a poor choice of words when, after I misspoke in some comments involving her, she didn’t offer me that same grace, immediately and very publicly took me to task, and then fundraised off of it,” wrote Lemon. He did seem to offer a bit of an olive branch, however, adding that he was “glad she clarified what she should have said. And, In the spirit of the season, let’s see if her actions match her corrected words moving forward.”