Don Lemon Sues Elon Musk and X Over Cancelled Talk Show Partnership

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon is taking legal action against Elon Musk and X, nearly five months after Lemon’s planned talk show on the social media platform was scrapped.

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Attorneys for Lemon filed a lawsuit against Musk and X on Thursday; in a copy of the complaint obtained by our sister site Variety , Lemon is suing for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, misappropriation of name and likeness, breach of express contract and unjust enrichment. The monetary damages Lemon is seeking have not been specified.

Lemon’s lawsuit comes after the abrupt cancellation in March of a talk show he was planning to launch on X (fka Twitter), titled The Don Lemon Show . When Lemon first announced the project in January , months after his termination from CNN in April 2023, he said it would be available “first on X, the biggest space for free speech in the world” and touted the series as “a place for honest debate and discussion without the hall monitors.”

Weeks later, though, Lemon shared that Musk had “cancelled the partnership I had with X, which they announced as part of their public commitment to amplifying more diverse voices on their platform.” Musk’s axing of the show allegedly came just hours after Lemon interviewed him for the premiere episode; that Q&A was still released in March , but Lemon’s talk show did not proceed on X.

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“This case is straightforward,” Lemon’s attorney Carney Shegerian said in a statement on Thursday. “X executives used Don to prop up their advertising sales pitch, then canceled their partnership and dragged Don’s name through the mud. You don’t have to be a genius to see the fraud, negligence, and reputational damage here. Don is an accomplished and hard-hitting journalist who’s committed to defending his good name and holding X’s executives accountable. We look forward to our day in court.”

TVLine has reached out to X for comment. An automatic reply from the company’s press inquiry mailbox reads, “Busy now, please check back later.”

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