Stephen A. Smith Delivers Cold Hard Take on Don Lemon’s Ouster: ‘You’re Not Keeping Your Job’ With ‘Those Kind of Numbers’

Stephen A. Smith broke down what he believes led to Don Lemon being abruptly fired from CNN earlier this week.

Smith reacted to the cable news shakeup on the Wednesday edition of his podcast Know Mercy with Stephen A. Smith.

“When Don Lemon and Tucker Carlson was let go by CNN and Fox News respectively on the same damn day — I was kind of surprised. Let take that back. Shocked — shocked at Tucker Carlson. I was not surprised at all that Don Lemon was let go,” Smith said.

Smith clarified that Lemon has interviewed him on several occasions. He has stated previously that he has refused to appear on Tucker Carlson’s show.

“He is not the ‘dumbest man on television,’ like former President (Donald) Trump always calls him. I respect Don Lemon. I like his work. He’s been a professional at CNN for 17 years, in the business spanning three decades. I’m not here to disrespect Don Lemon,” Smith said.

Smith believed that the moment that sealed the deal for Lemon to be fired was his comments about women past their prime directed at 2024 presidential hopeful Nikki Haley back in February.

“The fact of the matter is he said what he said, and that sound bite is what everybody held onto. In my mind, that moment sealed his fate, not because the moment was worthy of sealing his fate, because people make mistakes. I certainly have made them,” Smith said. “But the reason I thought this sealed his fate, because I thought his fate was sealed from the moment he was moved to morning television. They were just waiting for one or two things to happen, him to make a mistake or for his contract to expire.”

Smith reiterated that no one should be surprised by Lemon being fired.

“When you look at Don Lemon Tonight, that’s what his show was called, 10:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. When he followed up Chris Cuomo, his ratings were his best during the Trump years in office. But even at that time, never averaged more than 1.1 million viewers. According to the reports, shortly after Trump left office in January of 2021, his ratings steadily declined,” Smith said.

“And it wasn’t long before CNN’s primetime ratings overall, we’re down over 50% post-Trump. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the part where we all need to grow up in the business that we are in. I’m in it, I’ve been in it for decades. You’re not keeping your job when those kind of numbers are on the books,” Smith added.

Smith notated that Lemon has now hired a lawyer.

“I wish him nothing but the best. I hope he gets his money and he is able to take care of himself and his family and saw him on video walking out with four dogs or whatever the hell it was,” Smith said. “You know, nothing but the best to you. But when you’re in last place, you’re in last place. And then you go on a morning show and that wasn’t out rating Fox & Friends, that wasn’t out rating Morning Joe. We have to win in this business or they find someone who does.”

Watch above via Know Mercy with Stephen A. Smith.