Don Lemon, a former CNN The star presenter has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk, the owner of social media platform X, alleging that the tech billionaire and his company unfairly ended a partnership with him.
The lawsuit further alleges that Musk, 53, failed to pay Lemon, 58, after using her name to attract advertisers to the social media platform. BBC reported.
Earlier this year, X had reached deals with Lemon, former US Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and sports radio host Jim Rome as part of its efforts to win back advertisers after facing several controversies.
“The lawsuit alleges fraud, negligent misrepresentation and misappropriation of name and likeness,” said a post on the Facebook page of the law firm representing Lemon.
According to charges filed in California Superior Court in San Francisco, X had agreed to pay Lemon $1.5 million and a share of advertising revenue, but then canceled the partnership after Lemon spent thousands of dollars creating the show.
However, the deal that would have seen The Don Lemon Show appear on X abruptly collapsed in March after the taping of the first episode, which included an interview with the SpaceX CEO.
In a post on X shortly after the deal fell through, Musk said Lemon's approach “was basically just 'CNNbut on social media', which doesn't work, as evidenced by the fact that CNN It's dying.”
During the interview, which was recorded at Tesla's headquarters in Texas, Lemon asked Musk about his use of the drug ketamine, as well as the rise of hate speech on X.
The lemon had been with CNN for 17 years when he was fired in April 2023 after making on-air comments that then-Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was past her prime.
Shortly after Lemon's departure from CNNMusk, who was then looking to attract advertisers back to X, reached out to him.
X had been reeling from a series of controversies following the billionaire's acquisition in 2022.
