CNN host Don Lemon accused of sending threatening texts to female co-host
CNN host Chis Cuomo was fired in 2021 after accusations of sexual misconduct were level against him by multiple women.
This week, Fox News reported that one of Cuomo's former colleagues is now facing allegations of his own.
Lemon is said to have subjected the co-host to "provocative antics"
The network pointed to an article written by Variety magazine Tatiana Siegel which said that in 2008 Don Lemon sent harassing and misogynistic text messages to fellow Kyra Phillips, with whom he co-hosted "Live From."
"For months, tensions between the pair kept mounting," Siegel wrote. "On more than one occasion, a 'Live From' producer and a newsroom supervisor had to pull Lemon off the air during a commercial break because of the anchor’s provocative antics."
Siegel cited "two sources who worked there at the time" who recalled how Lemon routinely tore up "pictures and notes on top of and inside Phillips’ desk in the news pod they shared."
Lemon is said to have engaged in this activity after Phillips was given the high-profile reporting assignment in Iraq that Lemon had wanted for himself. According to Siegel, Lemon's behavior proceeded to grow "weirder" after Phillips made her return from Iraq.
Lemon accused of sending threatening text message
"One night while dining with members of the news team, she received the first of two threatening text messages from an unknown number on her flip phone that warned, 'Now you’ve crossed the line, and you’re going to pay for it,'" Siegel continued.
She recounted how Phillips was left "visibly rattled" by the experience and "quickly enlisted CNN’s higher-ups to identify the sender."
The two aforementioned sources told Siegel that "the texts were traced back to Lemon," prompting a human resources investigation.
Although the investigation's findings were never publicly disclosed, Siegel noted that "Lemon was abruptly pulled from his co-anchor duties with Phillips and moved to the weekends."
Siegel pointed out that this move "was a demotion by any objective measure" and was regarded as "some kind of disciplinary action."
Lemon denies wrongdoing
For its part, CNN provided Variety with a statement saying, "Don says the alleged incident never occurred and that he was never notified of any investigation. CNN cannot corroborate the alleged events from 15 years ago."
Siegel's article comes less than two months after Lemon was slammed for saying that 51-year-old Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley isn't "in her prime."
Don Lemon: “Nikki Haley isn’t in her prime. Sorry, when a woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s, and 30s, and maybe 40s … Don’t shoot the messenger! I’m just saying what the facts are! Google it!"
WOW.
— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) February 16, 2023
