CNN’s chairperson Chris Licht has reproached Don Lemon for his sexist on-air comments about Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who the news anchor had said “isn’t in her prime”.
Licht issued a stern rebuke against Lemon on Friday, saying the anchor’s comments had left the chairperson “disappointed”, according to a recording of his daily editorial call, obtained by the New York Times.
“His remarks were upsetting, unacceptable and unfair to his co-hosts, and ultimately a huge distraction to the great work of this organization,” Licht said.
Lemon issued his own apology to the network, saying, “I am sorry … I did not mean to hurt anyone. I did not mean to offend anyone.
Lemon added: “The people I’m closest to in this organization are women.”
The rebuke and apology came after a disastrous sequence on Thursday for Lemon, appearing alongside women co-hosts Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins. Lemon pushed back against Haley’s recent calls for “mental competency tests” for politicians over 75 years old, saying that he was “uncomfortable” with the “whole talk about age”.
“I think it’s the wrong road to go down,” Lemon said, adding: “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 – that’s not according to me.”
Harlow interrupted Lemon by saying: “Prime for what?”
Lemon replied: “It depends … If you Google when is a woman in her prime, it’ll say 20s, 30s and 40s.”
That prompted Harlow to say, “Are you talking about prime for like child bearing?”
Lemon answered: “Don’t shoot the messenger! I’m just saying what the facts are! Google it!”
Haley responded to Lemon’s comments on the Republican-friendly Fox News, saying: “This is something that I have faced all of my life … I have always made the liberals’ heads explode. They can’t stand the fact that a minority, conservative, female would not be on the Democratic side.
“He made that comment. I wasn’t sitting there saying sexist middle-aged CNN anchors need to have mental competency tests, although he may have just proven that point. What I was saying is that we need to be transparent,” Haley said, referring to her calls for the tests earlier this week that have widely been regarded as a jab at Donald Trump, 76, and Joe Biden, 80.
Before Trump lost the White House to Biden in 2020, he had appointed Haley – the former governor of South Carolina – to be his ambassador to the UN.
Haley continued: “Those elected officials that are making key decisions for us Americans on national security, and keeping our kids safe and the debt, yes we need to know exactly that we are sending people that are mentally competent to do that.”
