Don Lemon Doesn’t ‘Regret’ His Controversial Elon Musk Interview

Don Lemon does not “regret nearly anything in everyday living,” like his controversial job interview with Elon Musk.

“I think anything is a results,” Lemon, 58, exclusively informed Us Weekly at the 2024 TIME100 Gala in New York City on Thursday, April 25. “It is dependent on how you search at it, and I imagine every thing can help you mature. If you respond to it … it is all in the way you respond. I really do not regret it at all.”

Lemon released his self-titled information display very last thirty day period by sitting down down for a a single-on-one particular interview with the tech mogul, 52. On the other hand, The Don Lemon Exhibit’s partnership with the Musk-owned social media platform X was abruptly canceled days just before the series’ March 18 premiere. Lemon accused Musk of not believing in free speech in a assertion about their dialogue, all through which they discussed subjects these types of as previous President Donald Trump and SpaceX.

“I think that the job interview did fantastic,” Lemon advised Us, comparing viewers’ reactions to that of a Rorschach examination, in which folks glance at inkblots and share what they see. “People will say, ‘Oh my god, Elon crushed it. He did well, he confirmed that Don Lemon.’ And then other men and women are like, ‘Don Lemon crushed that Elon,’ and whatever,” he defined. “That was not what it was about.”

Lemon continued: “I just preferred individuals to study about me, him, and possibly they would study one thing about them selves. But it is been attention-grabbing to watch the reaction, and so I do not regret it at all. I assume it is essentially undertaking some great for the public.”

In Lemon’s original March 13 statement, he claimed, “There were being no limits on the job interview that [Musk] willing agreed to, and my queries ended up respectful and huge ranging,” but that did not cease Musk from feeling “differently” about the interview than Lemon.

“His commitment to a world wide city square exactly where all questions can be questioned and all concepts can be shared appears to be not to contain issues of him from men and women like me,” Lemon wrote.

In response to Lemon’s promises, X explained in a statement that though the web-site “champions totally free speech,” they also “reserve the correct to make choices about our small business partnerships, and soon after cautious thought, X made a decision not to enter into a industrial partnership with the demonstrate.”

Musk, for his aspect, claimed by means of X that Lemon’s technique to the collection was “basically just ‘CNN but on social media,’” and said that the demonstrate “lacked authenticity.” Regardless of the conflict, Lemon went on to release his job interview with Musk on X and has ongoing to air the clearly show on X and other social media and streaming platforms.

When he’s not doing work on The Don Lemon Present, the former CNN anchor advised Us that he enjoys hanging out with his spouse, Tim Malone, and their canines. (The couple wed in New York City before this month.)

“We have Sunday relatives meal each and every Sunday,” he shared. “In New York or wherever. If we’re out in the Hamptons, if we’re in New York, anywhere we are, we have Sunday supper, it’s day night time. And then by the conclusion of the night time, he falls asleep prior to we can get to the movie. He falls asleep in the opening credits, which is element of my marriage ceremony vows, by the way.”

With reporting by Andrew Nodell