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Don Lemon Sues Musk, X Over Canceled Show

The lawsuit alleges Musk and X used Lemon's likeness to bolster the platform's reputation to attract advertisers.

Published: August 1, 2024
  |   By Chris Bertman
Don Lemon Sues Musk, X Over Canceled Show

Former CNN host Don Lemon has sued Elon Musk for allegedly breaching their contract to host Lemon's new show on X.


In January, the 17-year veteran of CNN announced he would launch a show on X before the show was cancelled, per Musk's decision following an interview with the platform owner.

Musk later took aim at Lemon saying: “On a chart that measured personality and intelligence, [Lemon] would be in the worst quadrant – stupid a--hole.”

On Thursday, Lemon's legal team filed a lawsuit against Musk and X in the Superior Court of California for the County of San Francisco alleging the platform and its owner had engaged in "fraud," "negligent misrepresentation," "misappropriation of name and likeness," "unjust enrichment," and had breached their express contract.

The lawsuit claims Musk and X had agreed to pay Lemon $1.5 million for the exclusive show with an upfront $200,000 payment within three business days and the remainder paid in quarterly installments.


"Lemon was a top prospect for X, and thus, Defendants saw an opportunity and sought to reach an exclusive partnership deal with Lemon, following his termination at CNN, at a time when Lemon was vulnerable," states the lawsuit, which claims Musk and X publicized their partnership with Lemon to associate the platform with the former CNN host's "good name, likeness, identity, and reputation" to bolster X's reputation, "profit and gain advantage commercially" and entice advertisers to invest in X. "Once Defendants were enriched and gained the benefits of using Lemon’s name, likeness, identity, and reputation, they reneged on their express agreement with Lemon and have failed to compensate him, citing to false pretenses for their breach of the partnership agreement."

The suit continues:

Defendants deliberately misrepresented what they intended to do. Defendants knew that if they accurately represented to Lemon that the purpose and meaning of the exclusive partnership deal was to use Lemon’s name, likeness, reputation, and identity to rehabilitate Defendants reputation and draw in advertisers to the X platform, Lemon would never have agreed to do what he did and Defendants would have been unable to utilize Lemon to keep up with their ongoing efforts to woo advertisers.

The lawsuit goes on to cite a drop in advertising revenue after Musk purchased X, then-Twitter.

Lemon's lawsuit also cited X Business' announcement of their partnership with the former CNN host as a "unique and honest voice."


Upon cancellation of their deal with Lemon, X Business shared a statement noting Lemon was free to publish his new show on the platform without fear of censorship.


Musk later elaborated on the decision to cancel Lemon's deal with X: "His approach was basically just 'CNN, but on social media.'"

"Which doesn’t work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN is dying," Musk said, alleging Lemon's show would be influenced by former CNN president Jeff Zucker. "[It] lacked authenticity. All this said, Lemon/Zucker are of course welcome to build their viewership on this platform along with everyone else."

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